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BV  4501  .M59  1922 
Miller,  Park  Hays,  1879 
Our  reasonable  faith 


OUR  REASONABLE 
FAITH 


By   ^ 
PARK  HAYS  MILLER 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH  SCHOOL  WORK 

1922 


Copyright,  1922,  by 


THE    TKUSTEES    OP   THE    PRESBYTERIAN    BOARD   OF   PUBLICATION 
AND    SABBATH    SCHOOL   WORK 


Printed  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


To  The  Memory  Of 
MY  FATHER  AND  MOTHER 

THE  CHRISTIAN  ATMOSPHERE  OF  WHOSE  HOME 

NURTURED  HEART  AND  LIFE 

IN  THE  DAYS  OF  BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH 

WHEN  THE  MIND  WAS  TROUBLED  BY  DOUBTS 

THIS  BOOK  IS  GRATEFULLY 

DEDICATED 


"Being  ready  always  to  give  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh 
you  a  reason  concerning  the  hope  that  is  in  you."    I  Peter  3  :  15. 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  the  effort  of  the  writer  to  tell  in  simple 
language  some  of  the  thoughts  concerning  the  Christian 
faith  and  the  Christian  life  which  have  helped  him  in  the 
secret  battles  of  his  own  mind,  and  which  have  helped 
others  Hke  himself  with  whom  he  has  dealt.  The  book 
is  not  a  formal  argument  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
faith;  it  is  not  a  book  on  Christian  evidences;  nor  is 
it  an  apologetic;  although  it  is  hoped  that  it  will 
strengthen  the  faith  of  those  who  may  be  troubled  about 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  that  it  may  give  to  its 
readers  new  reasons  for  the  hope  that  is  in  them. 

The  four  subjects  which  are  brought  together  in  this 
book  have  been  discussed  separately  in  many  volumes, 
but  the  writer  does  not  know  of  a  single  book  which 
brings  them  together  in  this  way  for  the  ordinary  reader. 
That  there  are  so  few  quotations  from  books  other  than 
the  Bible  is  due  to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  material 
has  been  made  so  much  a  part  of  the  writer's  own  think- 
ing that  he  has  lost  any  consciousness  of  its  connection 
with  its  original  sources. 

The  book  deals  with  four  subjects  which  vitally  con- 
cern the  Christian — the  Bible,  in  which  the  revelation  of 
God  to  men  has  been  preserved;  great  truths  revealed 
in  the  Scriptures  and  proved  by  experience;  the  Com- 
mandments as  the  laws  of  conduct;  and  the  Church, 
through  which  the  truth  has  been  preserved,  by  which 
the  truth  is  taught,  and  in  connection  with  which  the 
Christian  finds  spiritual  nurture  and  a  field  for  service. 
Thus  we  have  The  Christian's  Book,  The  Christian's 

5 


6  PREFACE 

Faith,  The  Christian's  Life  Principles,  and  The  Chris- 
tian's Institution. 

The  book  is  intended  for  thoughtful  readers  who  may 
not  have  access  to  larger  volumes  dealing  with  these 
subjects,  or  who  may  not  desire  an  extended  or  pro- 
found discussion  of  them. 

P.  H.  M. 

February  15,  1922 


CONTENTS 

I 

CHAPTER  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  BOOK  pa«= 

I.  Christianity  and  the  Book 11 

''  II.  The  Bible  a  Living  Book 15 

r  III.  The  Bible  a  Unique  Book 19 

IV.  Examining  the  Book 24 

'  V.  How  the  Bible  Was  Written  and  Preserved  .      .  35 

VI.  Our  English  Bible 45 

VII.  The  Ultimate  Translation 56 


II 
THE  CHRISTIAN'S  FAITH 

^    I.  The  Great  Fundamental  Fact 65 

.  II.  Ignoring  God 70 

III.  How  We  May  Learn  to  Know  God 74 

IV.  The  Character  of  God 80 

V.  Jesus  Christ 88 

'  VI.  The  Holy  Spirit 95 

VII.  Sin 101 

VIII.  Salvation 108 

III 
THE  CHRISTIAN'S  LIFE  PRINCIPLES 

I.  The  Laws  of  Life 119 

II.  The  Law  of  Serving  God  Only 122 

III.  The  Law  of  Serving  God  Spiritually    ....  127 

IV.  The  Law  of  Reverence  for  Holy  Things   .      .      .133 
V.  The  Law  of  Taking  Time  for  the  Soul       .      .      .  138 

VI.  The  Law  of  Respect  for  Authority       .      .      .      .143 

VII.  The  Law  of  Respect  for  Life 147 

VIII.  The  Law  of  Respect  for  the  Home 152 

IX.  The  Law  of  Respect  for  Property 155 

X.  The  Law  of  Respect  for  Truth 158 

XI.  The  Law  of  Control  of  Desires 163 

XII.  The  Law  and  Grace 166 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

IV 

CHAPTER         THE  CHRISTIAN'S  INSTITUTION  page 

I.  Christianity  and  the  Church 173 

II.  The  Church's  Task 178 

III.  The  Church  and  the  Truth 184 

IV.  The  Church  and  Character 189 

V.  The  Church  and  Service 195 

VI.  The  Sacraments  of  the  Church 199 

VII.  The  Heroism  of  the  Church 208 

VIII.  Should  One  Join  the  Church? 218 


I 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  BOOK 


"But  abide  thou  in  the  things  which  thou  hast  learned  and 
hast  been  assured  of,  knowing  of  whom  thou  hast  learned  them; 
and  that  from  a  babe  thou  hast  known  the  sacred  writings  which 
are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus."     II  Tim.  3  :  14,  15. 


OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

CHAPTER  I 
CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  BOOK 

There  is  a  vital  relation  between  the  Christian  reli- 
gion and  the  Bible.  The  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God  and 
the  reHgion  of  Jesus  Christ  go  together.  Jesus  himself, 
the  Founder  of  Christianity,  left  no  room  for  doubt  as 
tc  this  fact.  His  attitude  toward  the  Old  Testament, 
which  constituted  the  Scriptures  of  his  day,  his  appeal 
to  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  and  his  use  of  the  Word 
of  God,  all  indicate  that  the  Scriptures  and  man's  faith 
and  spiiitual  life  are  vitally  related. 

The  early  disciples,  who  listened  to  Jesus'  teaching  and 
caught  the  spirit  of  his  life,  and  who  would  naturally  fol- 
low his  example,  gave  the  Scriptures  an  important  place 
in  their  religion.  As  Jesus  on  the  way  to  Emmaus,  ''be- 
ginning from  Moses  and  from  all  the  prophets,  .  .  . 
interpreted  to  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things 
concerning  himself,"  so  the  apostles  as  well  as  Paul 
''reasoned  .  .  .  from  the  scriptures."  When  Philip 
found  the  Ethiopian  reading  in  one  of  the  books  of  the 
Old  Testament,  he,  "beginning  from  this  scripture, 
preached  unto  him  Jesus."  A  company  of  believers  who 
are  especially  commended  in  the  New  Testament  have 
this  recorded  of  them:  "Now  these  were  more  noble 
than  those  in  Thessalonica,  in  that  they  received  the 

11 


12  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,  examining  the  scrip- 
tures daily,  whether  these  things  were  so."  Evidently 
the  early  Christians  beheved  that  the  Christian  faith 
and  the  Word  of  God  were  vitally  related.  And  where 
this  conviction  has  prevailed,  the  gospel  of  Christ  has 
flourished. 

In  reading  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  we  con- 
stantly find  fresh  evidence  of  this  vital  relation  between 
Christianity  and  the  Bible.  Much  as  personal  piety  may 
have  been  cultivated,  when  the  Word  of  God  has  been 
neglected  the  true  gospel  has  been  overshadowed.  But 
when  men  have  turned  to  the  Word  of  God,  the  gospel 
has  shone  forth  again  with  new  power. 

Many  influences  were  brought  to  bear  upon  the  mind 
and  heart  of  Augustine,  the  great  Christian  leader  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  in  order  to  lead  him  from  sin 
and  unbelief  to  Christ  and  his  service.  We  do  not  make 
light  of  a  mother's  life  and  teaching  and  prayers,  or  of 
the  preaching  of  the  great  Bishop  Ambrose,  or  of  the 
part  taken  by  many  others  in  persuading  Augustine  of 
the  truth,  when  we  place  the  emphasis  where  it  belongs 
— upon  the  Scriptures.  The  turning  point  in  Augus- 
tine's life  was  when  he  heard  the  voice  saying,  "Take 
and  read,"  and  in  response  to  that  voice  turned  to  the 
Scriptures  and  read,  "But  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  make  not  provision  for  the  flesh,  to  fulfil  the 
lusts  thereof."  After  all  his  study  of  philosophy  and 
literature,  the  Bible  became  his  Book. 

Wyclif  has  been  called  the  Morning  Star  of  the  Refor- 
mation. In  the  dark  days  when  Roman  Catholic  tra- 
ditions hid  the  gospel  light,  the  gleams  of  truth  which 
shone  upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  that  great  teacher 
came  from  the  Scriptures.  Because  he  felt  that  Eng- 
land's need  was  the  simple  Word  of  God,  he  trained  his 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  BOOK  13 

"poor  preachers"  and  translated  the  Scriptures  into  the 
language  of  the  people.  Huss,  the  student  of  Wyclif's 
writings  and  the  heroic  reformer  of  Bohemia,  kindled 
the  light  of  the  true  gospel  afresh  because  he  was  a  stu- 
dent and  a  preacher  of  the  Word  of  God.  Luther,  the 
Father  of  the  Reformation,  found  the  gospel  in  the 
Bible.  Zwingli,  the  Swiss  reformer,  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures the  truth  which  he  preached.  Calvin,  the  great 
theologian  and  organizer  of  the  Church  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, received  his  inspiration  from  the  study  of  the  Word 
of  God.  The  story  of  the  Church  and  the  experience  of 
Christians  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  Bible  and  the 
Christian  faith  are  vitally  related. 

So  evident  is  this  great  fact  that  a  modern  theologian 
whose  views  of  the  Scriptures  are  not  altogether  con- 
servative, says,  '^The  Christian  revelation  has  been 
preserved  in  the  Scriptures." 

Yet,  just  because  Christianity  and  the  Bible  are  so 
related,  we  may  unconsciously  get  a  wrong  idea  of  the 
true  character  and  place  of  the  Scriptures.  Vital  as  the 
relation  is  between  the  Bible  and  Christian  faith,  it  is 
not  the  Scriptures  themselves  which  are  of  so  great 
importance.  It  is  not  the  book,  with  its  words  and 
sentences,  that  has  so  vital  a  relation  to  our  Christian 
faith  and  Christian  life;  it  is  the  truth  which  God  seeks 
to  make  known  to  us  through  the  Scriptures.  This 
truth  is  what  gives  life  to  our  religion. 

We  might  compare  the  Bible  to  a  well  of  water.  The 
water  is  what  makes  the  well.  For  the  sake  of  the 
water  the  wall  is  built  and  the  pump  is  put  in  place. 
The  wall  is  important,  of  course,  for  the  wall  prevents 
the  earth  from  caving  in  and  shutting  us  off  from  the 
water.  The  pump  is  important,  of  course,  for  the  pump 
brings  the  water  to  the  surface.    But  the  water  is  the 


14  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

great  essential,  and  the  wall  and  the  pump  are  just 
means  by  which  the  water  is  brought  within  our  reach. 
So  the  book  that  we  call  the  Bible  exists  in  order  that 
the  truth  which  it  contains  may  be  brought  to  our  minds 
and  hearts.  The  original  writing  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  from  the  original  into  our  own 
language,  and  the  printing  of  the  Bible,  are  just  means 
of  bringing  the  truth  within  our  reach.  The  great 
essential  is  the  truth  itself  which  the  Bible  has  for  us. 

Paul  emphasized  this  thought  when  he  said,  "For 
the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  Jesus 
taught  this  truth  when  he  said,  "Ye  search  the  scrip- 
tures, because  ye  think  that  in  them  ye  have  eternal  life; 
and  these  are  they  which  bear  witness  of  me;  and  ye  will 
not  come  to  me,  that  ye  may  have  life."  In  the  book — 
the  words  of  the  book — the  Jews  expected  to  find  life; 
but  they  were  really  to  find  life  in  Jesus,  to  whom  the 
truth  revealed  in  the  Scriptures  was  intended  to  lead 
them.  The  written  page,  the  words  in  their  language, 
were  the  walls  and  the  pump  to  bring  to  them  the  water 
of  life. 

If  there  were  some  other  way  just  as  effective  as  the 
Scriptures  for  preserving  the  truth,  the  Bible  would  not 
hold  so  important  a  place,  but  the  fact  is,  as  has  been 
said,  that  "the  Christian  revelation  has  been  preserved 
in  the  Scriptures."  Therefore  Christianity  has,  in  this 
sense,  become  the  religion  of  a  Book.  Individuals  and 
the  Church  have  drawn  the  living  faith  from  the  well  of 
God's  Word.  Let  its  walls  decay  or  its  pump  fall  into 
disuse,  and  our  Christian  faith  must  lose  its  vitality  and 
r—  rhri'=;tipn  rhnracter  deteriorate. 

In  thinking,  tlicn,  about  c»ur  Christian  faith  we  may 
well  begin  with  the  consideration  of  the  character  and 
the  purpose  of  the  Bible,  the  Christian's  Book. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  BIBLE  A  LIVING  BOOK 

Our  Bible  is  not  written  in  a  dead  language.  This 
fact  is  significant.  The  Old  Testament  was  written  in 
Hebrew,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  short  passages  in 
Ai'amaic,  but  we  find  that  before  the  time  of  Christ  it 
was  translated  into  Aramaic,  the  common  language  of 
the  Jews  after  the  Exile,  and  into  the  Greek,  the  univer- 
sal language  after  the  conquests  of  Alexander.  The 
New  Testament  was  written  in  Greek,  the  universal 
language  at  the  time  of  its  composition,  but  we  find  that 
both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments  were  soon  trans- 
lated into  Latin,  which  was  the  language  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  In  England  the  Bible  was  translated  into 
English;  in  other  lands  it  was  translated  into  the 
language  of  the  people.  This  Book  is  not  a  book  to  be 
preserved  in  dead  languages,  perfect  as  those  embalmed 
languages  may  be  for  the  preservation  of  the  truth;  the 
Bible  has  always  been  translated  into  the  living  language 
of  the  people,  for  it  is  a  living  Book. 

Even  the  English  Bible  has  not  remained  in  the  form 
of  its  first  translation.  The  story  of  the  English  Bible  is  a 
story  of  many  revisions  and  new  translations.  Wyclif's 
Bible  was  followed  by  Tyndale's.  In  due  time  came  the 
King  James  Version,  which  was  a  revision  of  the  earlier 
English  Bibles.  For  some  three  hundred  years  this  was 
the  accepted  English  translation.  Then,  partly  because 
the  English  language,   being  a  living  language,   had 

15 


16  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

changed,  and  partly  because  new  manuscripts  of  the 
New  Testament  had  been  discovered,  a  new  translation 
was  demanded  in  order  that  the  original  Book  might  be 
printed  in  the  language  of  our  day.  Thus  we  have  the 
Revised  Version.  Nor  does  the  effort  to  keep  the  Bible  a 
living  Book  stop  here.  We  have  the  Bible  in  modern 
English  in  order  that  it  may  be  in  the  very  language 
which  we  speak,  the  living  language  that  falls  from  our 
lips  in  our  daUy  conversation.  The  many  translations 
of  the  Word  of  God  in  countless  tongues  and  dialects  are 
a  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  Bible  is  a  living  Book. 
If  the  Bible  possessed  by  the  early  Church  in  Hebrew 
and  Greek  has  shown  itself  to  be  a  living  Book  by  its 
being  translated  continually  into  the  living  language  of 
the  people,  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  discover  that  the 
Bible  was  a  living  Book  in  its  origin.  This  Book  did  not 
originate  in  some  writer's  mind,  find  a  willing  publisher, 
and  forthwith  issue  from  the  printing  press.  It  is  not 
machine-made.  It  did  not  find  its  source  in  the  cell  of  a 
monk,  or  in  the  study  of  some  world-detached  student  or 
scholar.  This  Book  came  out  of  human  life.  We  make 
the  Bible  none  the  less  God's  Book  when  we  say  that  it 
came  out  of  the  life  of  man.  God's  perfect  revelation  of 
himself  was  in  the  form  of  the  Man  Christ  Jesus.  This 
living  Book  came  out  of  human  experience,  as  God  made 
plain  to  men  the  meaning  of  that  experience.  The  great 
truths  of  Genesis — for  that  first  book  of  the  Bible  reveals 
great  truths — are  taught,  not  in  abstract  precepts,  but 
through  the  lives  of  men:  Adam  who  sinned,  Cain  who 
slew  his  brother,  Enoch  who  walked  with  God,  Abraham 
the  man  of  faith,  Jacob  whose  character  had  to  be  trans- 
formed by  the  grace  of  God,  Joseph  the  great  example  of 
noble  living.     Most  of  the  Bible's  great  lessons  are 


THE  BIBLE  A  LIVING  BOOK  17 

taught  through  biography — individual,  tribal,  or  na- 
tional conduct  being  interpreted  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  prophets  were  not  men  who  experienced  great 
ecstasies  and  came  to  others  with  their  visions,  withdraw- 
ing immediately  again  into  retirement.  Isaiah,  indeed, 
had  his  vision  of  God  in  the  Temple.  But  he  was  the 
adviser  of  kings,  a  man  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  stress 
and  excitement  and  crisis,  when  he  had  to  trust  God  al- 
though everything  seemed  to  be  against  him.  Jeremiah 
was  not  a  prophet  who  simply  dreamed  dreams  and 
saw  visions;  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd  and  de- 
nounced their  sins,  he  went  before  kings  with  his  mes- 
sage, he  endured  persecution  for  loyalty  to  his  convic- 
tions. Out  of  the  life  of  the  nation  came  his  messages. 
Amos  was  not  a  son  of  the  prophets,  trained  as  a  profes- 
sional messenger  of  God.  He  was  a  humble  herdsman 
of  Tekoa,  who  appeared  in  his  shepherd's  garb  in  the 
luxurious  cities  of  Israel  and  in  language  bold  and  bald 
exposed  the  condition  which  the  righteousness  of  God 
condemned.  The  prophets'  messages  stirred  up  such 
resentment,  because  they  had  so  much  to  do  with  every- 
day life. 

The  Psalms  of  the  Old  Testament,  too,  came  out  of 
life.  They  express  the  thoughts  of  real  men,  their  dis- 
appointments, their  struggles,  their  aspirations,  their 
discouragements,  their  problems  of  heart  and  life.  Out 
of  these  experiences  came  their  expressions  of  faith  in 
God  and  their  praise  of  his  goodness. 

The  New  Testament  also  came  out  of  life.  The  Christ 
who  lived  among  men  was  its  inspiration.  The  Gospels 
tell  what  Jesus  said  and  did  in  the  world,  as  he  dealt  with 
men.  Paul's  epistles  were  written  to  meet  practical  situ- 
ations, to  correct  errors  in  faith  or  conduct.  Even  the 
2 


18  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

book  of  Revelation,  with  its  visions  and  its  symbols — 
the  book  which  seems  to  be  farthest  from  our  actual  life 
experiences — was  really  written  to  help  Christians  who 
were  enduring  persecution.    It  was  a  message  for  life. 

Thus,  when  the  Bible  ceases  to  be  a  living  book,  a  book 
which  the  common  people  can  and  do  read,  when  the 
Bible  ceases  to  be  a  book  for  life  and  becomes  a  book 
for  study  for  its  own  sake  instead  of  a  source  of  truth  for 
practical  faith  and  practical  living,  it  will  have  become  a 
denatured  book.  This  living  book  which  came  out  of 
human  life  and  is  ever  to  be  translated  into  the  living 
language  of  men,  was  written  for  the  same  purpose  as 
the  Gospel  of  John:  "that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  and  that  believing  ye  may 
have  life  in  his  name." 

Therefore  in  examining  the  form  and  character  of  the 
Bible,  and  learning  more  of  its  story,  let  us  never  think 
of  ourselves  as  engaged  in  the  study  of  Biblical  anatomy 
in  a  dissecting  room,  but  let  us  feel  that  we  are  examin- 
ing the  living  body  of  Truth.  The  Bible  is  not  a  cadaver : 
it  pulsates  with  life,  and  we  should  feel  its  heart  beat 
even  when  we  think  about  the  externals  of  form  and 
history. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  BIBLE  A  UNIQUE  BOOK 

Many  people  think  of  the  Bible  as  a  book  of  mirac- 
ulous stories,  but  the  Bible  itself  is  as  marvelous  as  the 
events  it  narrates.  This  is  no  ordinary  book  which  has 
preserved  Christian  truth  for  us.  It  is  truly  unique. 
Other  religions  have  their  sacred  books,  but  these  are 
not  to  be  compared  with  the  Bible. 

We  might  readily  conceive  of  a  volume  being  formed 
through  the  centuries  by  the  addition  of  new  portions  as 
the  years  passed,  but  we  should  not  expect  a  book  so 
formed  to  be  more  than  a  collection  of  separate  and  in- 
dependent writings.  The  Bible,  however,  was  written 
by  many  authors  scattered  through  a  period  of  probably 
sixteen  centuries.  It  was  written  book  by  book,  and 
these  books  were  gradually  added  one  to  the  other  by 
common  acceptance  until  they  formed  a  single  volume. 
Yet  the  resulting  book,  strange  to  say,  possesses  a  mar- 
velous unity.    It  is,  in  a  true  sense,  one  book. 

We  may  explain  this  unity  by  the  fact  that  the  Bible 
is  God's  own  revelation  of  his  will  to  men.  If  God  moved 
the  various  writers  to  give  their  messages  to  the  world  as 
the  centuries  rolled  by,  we  should  expect  the  book  result- 
ing from  this  process  to  reveal  the  development  of  one 
great  purpose.  Or  we  may  say  that  if  God  was  working 
out  his  great  purpose  in  the  lives  of  men  in  history,  the 
messages  of  his  messengers  to  the  Jews,  through  whom 
he  was  preparing  to  bring  the  Saviour  into  the  world, 
must  make  a  book  in  which  would  be  revealed  one  great 

19 


20  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

purpose  growing  clearer  and  clearer  as  the  centuries 
passed.  And  when  in  the  fullness  of  time  the  Son  of  God 
came  as  the  revelation  of  God  to  men,  the  New  Testa- 
ment books  were  written  about  his  life  and  teaching  and 
work.  Although  by  various  writers,  these  books  of  ne- 
cessity possess  a  remarkable  unity  because  the  same 
Christ  is  the  heart  of  them  all. 

Any  attempt  to  explain  the  unity  of  the  Bible,  pro- 
duced through  the  centuries  by  many  writers,  each  dif- 
fering from  the  other,  must  recognize  the  great  purpose 
of  God  as  it  has  been  revealed  in  sacred  history.  God's 
purpose  in  history  and  the  Bible's  messages  to  men 
have  developed  together.  One  mind  and  one  purpose 
have  guided  them  both.  So  this  marvelous  book  is  the 
one  great  interpreter  of  God's  purpose  in  the  world,  and 
as  such  stands  alone  among  the  books  of  the  world. 

This  book,  which  reveals  the  purpose  of  God  as  it 
has  been  wrought  out  in  history,  and  as  it  is  still  to  be 
wrought  out,  is  also  unique  because  its  thoughts  are  be- 
yond the  thoughts  of  any  other  book.  Its  ideals  are  the 
highest,  its  philosophy  the  most  profound,  its  moral 
teachings  the  purest.  The  highest  ideals  of  to-day,  the 
highest  conception  of  the  character  of  God  which  man 
now  possesses,  the  finest  code  of  morals  that  is  con- 
ceived, can  be  traced  back  to  their  source  in  the  Word 
of  God  as  it  is  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments. 

The  Bible  is  unique  in  its  history.  Its  very  survival 
is  a  miracle.  No  book  has  had  so  many  enemies.  No 
book  has  suffered  so  many  attempts  to  destroy  it.  Like 
Jeremiah's  scroll  it  has  been  torn  to  pieces,  and  burned 
in  the  fire,  but  it  still  survives.  It  has  been  neglected, 
and  lost,  and  buried,  only  to  be  found-  again,^  dug  up 


THE  BIBLE  A  UNIQUE  BOOK  21 

from  ruins,  and  studied  once  more.  It  has  been  ridi- 
culed and  denied,  and  still  it  grips  the  minds  and  hearts 
and  consciences  of  men.  The  story  of  its  persistence  is 
the  most  marvelous  of  all  the  book  stories  the  world 
has  known. 

The  Bible  is  unusual  because  of  the  variety  of  its 
readers  and  students.  It  belongs  to  every  class.  A 
famous  merchant  and  his  humble  servant  alike  loved 
and  studied  this  Word  of  God,  and  it  spoke  to  the 
heart  of  each.  The  student  of  the  ancient  tongues 
searches  out  its  meaning  in  the  light  of  all  his  knowl- 
edge and  scholarship,  and  feels  repaid  for  his  research 
and  his  dihgence.  The  untutored  Christian  meditates 
upon  its  translation  in  his  own  language  and  finds 
food  for  mind  and  soul.  The  same  Bible  is  preached  in 
the  cathedral  and  in  the  chapel,  in  the  hall  of  learning 
and  on  the  street  corner,  and  everywhere  it  shows  its 
power.  Groups  of  men  and  women  and  boys  and  girls  of 
every  class  and  of  every  grade  of  mental  development 
meet  regularly  to  study  this  book. 

What  other  book  is  universal  geographically?  What 
other  book  is  studied  in  China  and  Japan,  in  India  and 
Siam,  in  Europe  and  Australia,  in  Alaska  and  the  isles  of 
the  sea?  What  other  book  is  studied  alike  under  the 
equator  and  in  the  frozen  north?  Strange  book,  indeed, 
that  fits  into  the  thoughts  and  the  feelings  and  the  pur- 
poses, and  that  proves  to  be  practical  in  the  lives,  of  all 
men  everywhere !  This  is  the  one  universal  Book.  Must 
it  not  be  that  this  is  so  because  the  true  Author  of  this 
Book  is  the  Lord  of  all  men? 

This  Book  is  unique  also  because  of  its  influence.  It  is 
the  greatest  civilizing  force  the  world  possesses.  Where 
this  Book  goes  justice  goes,  high  ideals  go,  unselfishness 


22  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

goes,  kindness  goes.  This  Book  has  the  power  to  trans- 
form individuals  and  communities  and  nations.  Where 
this  Book  is  wrought  into  the  fiber  of  the  mind  and  heart, 
you  find  a  product  which  the  world  calls  character,  the 
one  thing  which  gives  stability  to  society,  the  one  thing 
that  men  know  is  the  foundation  of  right  human  re- 
lationships. 

The  persistency  of  the  Bible  is  amazing.  This  Book, 
brought  to  completion  almost  two  thousand  years  ago, 
is  still  a  living  book.  In  every  century  since  it  was  writ- 
ten it  has  shown  its  vitality  and  its  applicability  to  the 
age.  Books  go  out  of  fashion;  many  of  the  standard 
books  of  a  generation  ago  are  laughed  at  to-day.  But  the 
Bible  continues  to  hold  its  place.  "  Almost  the  only  book 
still  left  to  us  is  the  New  Testament,"  says  a  modern 
scholar.  "  It  is  only  the  New  Testament  that  speaks  the 
truth.  It  has  proved  itself  right  on  every  single  issue." 
He  was  speaking  in  view  of  the  World  War  which  had 
recently  come  to  its  close. 

The  Bible  is  remarkable  also  because  of  its  circulation. 
Up  to  the  end  of  the  year  1920  it  had  been  printed  in 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  languages  and  dialects. 
During  the  ten  years  prior  to  the  year  1921  the  Bible 
''appeared  in  a  new  language  at  the  rate  of  one  every  six 
weeks."  The  whole  Bible  has  been  printed  in  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine  languages,  the  New  Testament  in  one 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  more,  and  portions  of  at  least 
one  book  in  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  more.  Dur- 
ing a  single  recent  year  twenty-five  million  volumes  of 
the  Scriptures  were  printed  by  the  various  Bible  societies 
and  publishing  houses. 

The  Christian  may  well  be  proud  of  his  Book,  this 
hving,  this  marvelous  Bible.     But  it  is  to  be  feared 


THE  BIBLE  A  UNIQUE  BOOK  23 

that  too  many  Christians  cannot  truly  call  this  Book 
their  own.  Though  they  may  own  many  printed 
copies  of  what  they  call  the  Bible,  they  do  not  really 
possess  the  Book.  Of  its  character  and  content  they 
know  little;  to  its  message  they  have  scarcely  listened; 
of  its  living  power  they  have  scarcely  availed  them- 
selves. They  need  to  be  introduced  to  their  own 
unique  Book. 


CHAPTER  IV 
EXAMINING  THE  BOOK 

We  have  become  so  accustomed  to  the  Scriptures  be- 
ing printed  and  bound  in  a  peculiar  way  that  we  can  al- 
most immediately  recognize  a  copy  of  the  Bible.  When 
we  open  the  Bible  it  does  not  look  like  other  books,  for  it 
has  two  columns  of  type  on  a  page  and  verse  divisions 
that  give  it  an  appearance  all  its  own.  Sometimes  this 
peculiar  appearance  of  the  Bible  as  compared  with  other 
books  seems  to  make  it  a  forbidding  book;  it  does  not 
look  interesting.  But  there  are  interesting  facts  to  no- 
tice, even  in  connection  with  its  peculiarities  of  form. 

If  we  turn  the  pages  of  this  book  we  discover  that  it  is 
printed  as  if  it  were  really  two  volumes  bound  in  one, 
the  first  volume  being  between  three  and  four  times  as 
large  as  the  second,  and  the  second  having  its  own  title 
page,  as  if.it  were  a  separate  book.  In  some  Bibles, 
too,  the  second  part  of  the  book  begins  to  number  the 
pages  over  again.  Although  the  second  part  of  the  book 
is  almost  two  thousand  years  old,  it  bears  the  title 
''New,"  for  the  first  part,  or  volume,  is  known  as  the 
"Old  Testament"  or  ''Old  Covenant,"  and  the  second 
volume  is  known  as  the  "New  Testament"  or  "New 
Covenant." 

We  know  that  while  these  two  are  really  one  book,  the 
two  parts  stand  in  marked  contrast  one  to  the  other. 
The  Old  Testament  is  the  Bible  of  the  Jews;  the  New 
Testament,  added  to  the  Old,  makes  the  Bible  of  Chris- 
tians.   The  Old  Testament  was  written  before  Jesus  was 

24 


EXAMINING  THE  BOOK  25 

born;  the  New  Testament  was  wi^itten  after  Jesus  had 
finished  his  earthly  ministry.  If  we  could  see  these  two 
parts  of  the  Bible  in  their  original  form  we  should  dis- 
cover a  marked  difference  in  their  appearance,  for  the 
Old  Testament  was  written  in  Hebrew,  with  a  few  pas- 
sages in  Aramaic,  while  the  New  Testament  was  written 
in  Greek.  This  difference  in  language,  of  course,  is  not 
observable  in  the  English  Bible,  but  the  difference  in 
appearance  in  the  original  languages  was  decidedly 
marked. 

As  we  examine  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments  we 
discover  that  they  are  made  up  of  parts  each  of  which 
bears  a  name  or  title  of  its  own :  Genesis,  Exodus,  et  cet- 
era, in  the  Old  Testament ;  and  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
et  cetera,  in  the  New  Testament.  Each  of  these  parts  is 
known  as  a  book.  This  is  why  we  have  the  name 
"Bible, *'  from  the  Greek  word  bihlia,  which  means 
"books."  The  Bible  consists  of  "the  books''  of  the 
Holy  Library  of  God. 

In  the  Old  Testament  there  are  thirty-nine  of  these 
books,  in  the  New  Testament  twenty-seven,  making 
sixty-six  in  all.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  number 
of  books  can  readily  be  remembered  by  thinking  that  the 
number  of  books  in  the  Old  Testament  is  made  by  writ- 
ing a  3  and  a  9,  while  the  number  in  the  New  Testament 
is  3  times  9,  or  twenty-seven.  Each  of  these  books  is  in 
turn  divided  into  chapters,  although  a  few  books  con- 
sist of  one  chapter  only. 

Perhaps  the  most  peculiar  thing  about  the  form  in 
which  the  Bible  is  printed  is  that  the  chapters  of  the 
various  books  are  again  divided  into  verses,  each  of 
which  is  printed  as  a  separate  paragraph  bearing  a  num- 
ber.    This  form  of  printing  the  Bible  makes  connected 


26  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

reading  difficult,  and  detracts  from  its  interest.  For 
this  reason  in  the  Revised  Version,  while  the  verses  are 
indicated  by  numbers,  each  verse  is  not  printed  as  a  sep- 
arate paragraph,  but  the  paragraphs  indicate  natural 
divisions  of  the  thought. 

This  chapter  and  verse  division,  however,  has  served 
an  important  purpose.  The  Bible  is  not  simply  a  book 
for  reading,  but  a  book  for  study  and  reference.  In  in- 
terpreting the  Bible,  Scripture  is  to  be  compared  with 
Scripture.  It  is  important,  therefore,  that  we  should  be 
able  readily  to  refer  to  or  find  any  portion,  in  fact  any 
particular  sentence,  of  the  Scriptures.  The  division  into 
chapters  and  verses  enable  us  to  do  this.  Almost  every- 
one knows  John  3  :  16 :  ''For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believ- 
eth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life." 
But  if  the  Bible  were  not  divided  into  chapters  and 
verses,  how  could  we  find  readily  this  or  any  other  text? 

There  was  a  time  when  portions  of  Scripture  could 
not  be  cited  so  easily  or  accurately.  When  Jesus  wished 
to  refer  to  a  particular  passage  of  Scripture  he  did  not 
mention  book,  chapter,  and  verse,  as  we  do,  but  said, 
''Have  ye  not  read  in  the  book  of  Moses,  in  the  place  con- 
cerning the  Bush,  how  God  spake  unto  him,  saying,  I  am 
the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God 
of  Jacob?"     Mark  12:26. 

Thepresent  chapter  and  verse  division  was  introduced 
into  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  Hebrew  Bible,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century.  The  verse  division  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  introduced  into  the  Greek  New  Testament  in 
1551  by  Robert  Stephens,  who  was  both  a  printer  and 
a  scholar.  It  is  said  that  he  made  his  verse  divisions  while 
journeying  on  horseback  from  Paris  to  Lyons.  This  fact 


EXAMINING  THE  BOOK  27 

may  explain  why  a  verse  division  sometimes  breaks  into 
the  middle  of  a  sentence.  The  first  complete  Bible  with 
chapter  and  verse  divisions  was  the  Latin  Vulgate, 
printed  in  1555. 

There  are  other  important  divisions  in  the  Bible 
which  are  not  indicated  for  us.  These  should  be  noted. 
The  books  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment fall  into  a  number  of  natural  divisions  or  groups,  as 
arranged  in  the  English  Bible. 

The  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  fre- 
quently called  the  '^books  of  Moses."  A  common  name 
for  them  is  the  ''Law/'  because  they  contain  the  Jewish 
law.  They  are  also  called  the  Pentateuch,  which  means 
"five  books."  Then  follow  twelve  books,  from  Joshua  to 
Esther,  which  are  commonly  known  as  the  Historical 
Books.  After  these  come  the  five  Poetical  Books,  which 
are  followed  by  the  five  Major  Prophets,  and  these  by 
the  twelve  Minor  Prophets.  Each  of  these  divisions 
deserves  special  consideration. 

The  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  the 
Pentateuch,  combine  within  themselves  two  important 
elements,  history  and  law.  They  tell  the  early  history 
of  mankind,  and  particularly  the  story  of  the  Hebrew 
people  from  the  Creation  until  the  death  of  Moses. 
Genesis  tells  the  story  of  the  Creation  and  the  Fall,  the 
Flood  and  the  Dispersion  of  mankind,  then  gives  special 
attention  to  the  story  of  Abraham  and  his  family  up  to 
the  death  of  Joseph  in  the  land  of  Egypt.  Exodus  tells 
of  the  "Exodus"  or  departure  from  Egypt  and  of  the 
wanderings  in  the  wilderness,  but  includes  also  the  law 
delivered  on  Mount  Sinai — the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  the  specifications  for  the  Tabernacle — thus  bringing 
in  the  second  element  in  the  Pentateuch.   Leviticus,  the 


28  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

book  ''concerning  the  Levites/'  gives  many  detailed 
ceremonial  and  civil  and  sanitary  laws  which  were  estab- 
lished for  the  Hebrew  nation.  Numbers  begins  with 
the  "numbering"  of  the  people  in  the  wilderness  of 
Sinai,  and  tells  more  of  the  experiences  of  Israel  in  the 
wilderness;  but  it  gives  also  many  of  the  laws  which  were 
to  govern  the  nation.  Most  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy, 
so  called  because  it  is  a  '^repetition  of  the  law,''  is  the 
farewell  address  of  Moses.  But  it  also,  as  the  name  in- 
dicates, gives  again  laws  which  were  to  govern  the  na- 
tion. The  book  closes  with  the  death  of  Moses.  Thus, 
we  find,  the  first  group  of  books  is  composed  of  five 
books,  and  so  is  called  the  Pentateuch.  Moses  is  the 
dominant  name  in  four  of  them,  and  all  five  were 
ascribed  to  him,  and  so  they  were  called  the  books  of 
Moses.  They  contain  the  law  of  Israel,  and  so  are  called 
"The  Law." 

The  twelve  books  of  history  which  follow  the  Penta- 
teuch narrate  the  story  of  the  Hebrews  from  the  death 
of  Moses  to  the  rebuilding  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and 
the  Temple,  after  the  Babylonian  Captivity.  Joshua 
takes  us  from  the  death  of  Moses  through  the  conquest 
of  Canaan  under  the  leadership  of  Joshua.  Judges  tells 
the  story  of  the  Hebrews  when  they  were  more  or  less 
separate  tribes  under  the  rule  of  judges  whose  influence 
was  felt  in  larger  or  smaller  groups  of  tribes.  The  Book 
of  Ruth  gives  us  a  beautiful  story,  the  scene  of  which  is 
laid  in  the  days  of  the  Judges  and  pictures  the  customs 
of  that  period.  The  two  books  of  Samuel  tell  of  the  uni- 
fying of  the  nation  under  the  kings,  narrating  the  story 
from  Saul  to  David.  Here  the  two  books  of  Kings  take 
up  the  history  and  carry  the  account  through  the  reign 
of  Solomon,  David's  son,  the  division  of  the  kingdom 


EXAMINING  THE  BOOK  29 

under  Solomon's  son,  Rehoboam,  and  the  separate  exis- 
tence of  the  two  kingdoms — the  Kingdom  of  Israel  in  the 
north,  and  the  Kingdom  of  Judah  in  the  south  with  its 
capital  in  Jerusalem — until  the  fall  of  Samaria,  the 
northern  capital,  to  the  Assyrians,  and  the  fall  of  Jerusa- 
lem before  the  Babylonians  and  the  captivity  of  Judah. 

The  books  of  Chronicles  do  not  here  take  up  the 
story  and  carry  it  on  as  one  might  expect.  These  two 
books  are  parallel  to  the  books  of  Kings  and,  after  intro- 
ducing voluminous  genealogies,  begin  with  the  time  of 
David  and  repeat  the  story  of  Israel  and  Judah  with  em- 
phasis upon  idolatry  as  the  cause  of  the  nation's  ruin. 
The  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  then  take  up  the  story 
at  the  close  of  the  Babylonian  Captivity  and  bring  the 
remnant  of  Judah,  henceforth  to  be  known  as  the  Jews, 
back  to  Jerusalem,  which  is  rebuilt  and  the  Temple  and 
its  worship  restored.  As  The  Book  of  Ruth  gives  us  a 
picture  of  the  days  of  the  Judges,  so  The  Book  of  Esther 
gives  us  a  picture  of  the  days  of  the  Babylonian  Cap- 
tivity and  the  adventures  of  a  Jew  and  his  niece  who 
were  loyal  to  their  traditions  as  Jews  in  the  heathen 
land  of  the  Medes  and  the  Persians. 

Many  who  are  unfamiliar  with  the  character  of  the 
Old  Testament  would  naturally  expect  the  next  book  or 
group  of  books  to  carry  us  on  further  in  the  history  of 
the  Jews.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  Old  Testament  his- 
tory takes  us  no  further.  When  we  turn  to  the  next  book 
we  come  to  the  first  of  the  five  poetical  books,  "Job." 
Many  readers  of  the  Enghsh  Bible  wonder  that  these 
five  books  are  called  poetical;  they  are  unable  to  find  in 
them  meter  or  rime.  But  they  are  poetry,  nevertheless. 
Hebrew  poetry  did  not  depend  upon  the  kind  of  meter 
we  are  accustomed  to,-  or  upon  rime.     Hebrew  poetry 


30  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

had  rhythm,  and  what  is  called  parellelism  of  thought, 
by  which  is  meant  that  one  line  is  echoed  in  the  next, 
sometimes  in  a  comparison,  sometimes  in  a  contrast, 
sometimes  in  an  additional  thought.  Each  of  these  five 
books  differs  from  the  others.  Job  is  a  poem  which 
deals  with  the  problem  of  human  suffering,  a  problem 
of  every  land  and  age.  The  Book  of  The  Psalms,  which 
follows  Job,  might  be  called  the  hymn  book  of  the 
Jews.  It  consists  of  religious  poems  which  reflect  the 
experiences  of  the  Hebrews  all  through  their  history. 
There  are  poems  that  deal  with  the  Exodus  from  Egypt, 
Israel's  experiences  in  the  wilderness,  their  conflicts  with 
their  enemies,  their  captivity,  their  return  from  exile, 
their  Temple  worship.  Many  of  them  search  the  depths 
of  personal  and  national  religious  experience.  Some  of 
the  psalms  are  acrostic  poems.  One  of  these,  Psalm 
119,  has  the  same  number  of  sections  as  there  are 
letters  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  and  in  each  section 
every  verse  in  Hebrew  begins  with  the  letter  which  is 
found  at  the  head  of  that  section. 

Following  The  Psalms  is  the  book  of  Proverbs  which 
is,  as  its  name  indicates,  a  collection  of  wise  sayings. 
Ecclesiastes,  or  The  Preacher,  also  a  poetical  book,  tells 
of  the  vain  search  in  material  things  for  that  which  will 
satisfy  the  heart  of  man.  The  last  of  the  poetical  books 
is  The  Song  of  Solomon,  a  poem  of  love.  This  is  taken 
by  some  to  be  merely  the  poetic  story  of  the  love  of  a 
king  for  a  beautiful  maiden.  Others  take  it  to  be  typi- 
cal of  the  love  of  God  for  Israel,  in  the  case  of  the  Jews, 
and  the  love  of  Christ  for  his  Church,  in  the  case  of  Chris- 
tians. Still  others  hold  it  to  be  purely  an  allegory  of 
Christ's  love  for  the  Church.  Elements  in  Ecclesiastes 
and  The  Song  of  Solomon  have  led  both  among  Jews  and 


EXAMINING  THE  BOOK  31 

Christians  to  debate  concerning  their  place  among  the 
books  of  the  Bible. 

Following  the  Poetical  Books  come  two  groups  of 
prophetical  books,  usually  called  the  ^' Major  Prophets," 
of  which  there  are  five,  and  the  ''Minor  Prophets,''  of 
which  there  are  twelve.  The  use  of  the  terms  ''major" 
and  "minor"  has  often  led  to  the  erroneous  conclusion 
that  the  five  major  prophets  were  more  important  or 
greater  in  their  prophetic  power  than  the  minor  prophets. 
This  is  not  the  implication,  for  the  Major  Prophets  are 
so  named  because  the  books  are  longer  or  larger  than 
the  Minor  Prophets.  These  titles,  too,  apply  to  the  books 
and  not  the  authors,  for  Lamentations  is  not  the  name  of 
a  man  but  of  a  book. 

Because  the  earlier  books  of  the  Old  Testament  fol- 
low one  another  in  historic  sequence,  narrating  the 
story  of  Israel,  some  readers  of  the  Bible  naturally  ex- 
pect that  the  prophets  should  take  up  the  story  of  God's 
people  where  it  was  left  off  in  the  earlier  books.  It  will 
help  such  readers  to  remember  that  the  books  of  the 
prophets  may  be  compared  to  the  letters  and  speeches  of 
statesmen  in  our  history.  The  printing  in  an  appendix 
to  a  history  of  the  patriotic  appeal  of  Patrick  Henry,  the 
inaugural  address  of  Washington,  Webster's  reply  to 
Hayne,  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address,  and  other  dis- 
courses or  documents  would  not  indicate  that  these  be- 
longed after  the  time  of  the  main  portion  of  the  book. 
We  would  realize  that  these  addresses  should  be  read 
in  connection  with  the  body  of  the  history,  and  so  be 
fitted  into  their  respective  places.  So  it  is  with  the 
prophets.  These  writings  and  discourses  are  to  be  fitted 
into  their  places  on  the  background  of  the  historical 
books:  Isaiah  in  the  reigns  of  such  kings  as  Uzziah, 


32  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

Jotham,  Ahaz,  and  Hezekiah,  kings  of  Judah;  Jeremiah 
in  the  last  days  of  Judah's  history;  and  Lamentations, 
being  Jeremiah's  outbm^st  of  sorrow  over  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  leading  up  to  the  fall  and  Exile ;  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel  during  the  Captivity  and  Exile. 

So,  also,  the  Minor  Prophets  are  to  be  placed  upon  the 
background  of  Hebrew  history,  although  this  cannot  al- 
ways be  done  with  assurance.  We  can  see  Amos,  how- 
ever, delivering  his  powerful  messages  to  the  Northern 
Kingdom  in  the  days  of  Rehoboam  II,  or  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  encouraging  the  returned  exiles  in  their  efforts 
to  rebuild  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple;  or  Malachi,  the 
last  of  the  prophets,  exhorting  the  people  after  the  re- 
forms of  Nehemiah. 

The  books  of  the  New  Testament,  like  those  of  the 
Old  Testament,  also  fall  into  five  groups.  The  first 
group,  composed  of  the  Gospels,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  is  biographical,  giving  four  accounts  of  the 
life  and  work  and  teaching  of  Jesus.  Next  comes  a 
single  book.  The  Acts,  a  supplement  to  one  of  the  Gos- 
pels, which  takes  up  the  story  after  the  resurrection 
and,  beginning  with  the  ascension  of  Jesus,  tells  of  the 
spread  of  Christianity  until  it  reached  the  imperial  city 
of  Rome.  The  third  division  consists  of  fourteen 
epistles,  or  letters:  Romans,  I  Corinthians,  II  Corin- 
thians, Galatians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colossians, 
I  Thessalonians,  II  Thessalonians,  I  Timothy,  II  Timo- 
thy, Titus,  Philemon,  Hebrews.  These  are  often  called 
the  Pauline  Epistles.  While  these  epistles  are  called 
^'PauHne,"  only  thirteen  are  ascribed  to  Paul,  the  last  of 
the  fourteen,  Hebrews,  being  anonymous.  But  many 
have  felt  that  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  must  have 
been  written  by  some  one  in  close  sympathy  with  Paul, 


EXAMINING  THE  BOOK  33 

if  not  by  Paul  himself.  Following  the  Pauline  Epistles 
are  the  General  Epistles,  seven  in  number:  James,  I 
Peter,  II  Peter,  I  John,  II  John,  III  John,  and  Jude. 
These  epistles  or  letters  are  called  ''general"  because 
they  are  not  addressed  to  particular  individuals  or 
churches,  as  is  the  case  with  the  other  epistles.  The  last 
book  of  the  New  Testament  belongs  in  a  class  by  itself, 
being  its  one  prophetic  book.  This  is  The  Revelation 
of  John,  which  was  written  to  comfort  the  Church  in 
the  midst  of  conflict  and  trial.  The  book  is  often  called 
the  Apocalypse,  from  the  Greek  word  in  chapter  1:1, 
which  is  translated  ''revelation." 

In  the  New  Testament,  as  well  as  the  Old  Testament, 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  books  are  not  arranged  in 
chronological  order.  Matthew  tells  the  story  of  Jesus' 
birth  and  life  and  teaching  and  of  his  death  and  resur- 
rection. Then  Mark  takes  the  reader  back  to  the  be- 
ginning of  Jesus'  ministry  and  gives  the  briefest  and 
most  vivid  account  of  what  Jesus  did.  Luke  also  takes 
the  reader  back  to  the  birth  of  Jesus  and  his  boy- 
hood, and  then  tells  of  his  ministry.  John's  Gospel  is 
different  from  the  other  three,  which  are  usually  spoken 
of  as  the  Synoptic  Gospels  because  they  give  us  "the 
same  view" — synopsis — of  the  life  and  ministry  of 
Jesus.  John's  Gospel  takes  us  back  into  eternity  be- 
fore the  world  was  made,  when  the  Son  was  with  the 
Father,  announces  the  fact  of  the  incarnation  without 
telling  the  story  of  Jesus'  birth,  and  then  tells  of  the 
life  and  teaching  of  Jesus,  narrating  many  events  not 
mentioned  in  the  three  Synoptic  Gospels. 

The  Acts,  written  by  Luke,  the  author  of  the  third 
Gospel  also,  continues  the  story  after  Jesus'  ascension, 
as  has  been  pointed  out,  telling  of  the  development  of 
3 


34  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

the  early  Church,  the  activity  of  the  apostles,  and  es- 
pecially the  missionary  journeys  of  Paul  until  he  reached 
Rome,  where  he  was  held  as  a  prisoner  awaiting  trial. 

The  Pauline  Epistles,  instead  of  continuing  the  story, 
are  letters  written  by  Paul  (with  the  probable  exception 
of  Hebrews)  as  he  went  about  establishing  churches  or 
revisiting  and  confirming  those  already  established.  So 
in  the  New  Testament,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Old,  we  have 
history  supplemented  by  documents  which  must  be 
fitted  into  their  place  in  the  history.  The  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  was  written  to  encourage  Jewish  Christians  not 
to  forsake  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  and  go  back  to  the 
bondage  of  Jewish  laws  and  ceremonies.  The  General 
Epistles,  too,  should  be  read  with  the  understanding  that 
they  are  letters  written  by  Christian  leaders  as  they  were 
engaged  in  their  work  of  establishing  the  Church.  Rev- 
elation, which  stands  alone,  should  be  looked  upon  as 
the  message  of  the  living  Christ  to  his  Church  in  the 
midst  of  persecution. 


CH  AFTER V 
HOW  THE  BIBLE  WAS  WRITTEN  AND  PRESERVED 

The  Christian  is  concerned  chiefly  about  receiving 
and  understanding  the  truth  which  is  contained  in  the 
Scriptures.  It  is  much  more  important  to  eat  and  digest 
the  food  spread  upon  the  table  than  it  is  to  know  how 
that  food  was  produced  or  the  process  by  which  it  was 
prepared  in  the  kitchen.  So  it  is  vastly  more  important 
for  us  to  know  the  truth  the  Bible  contains  than  it  is  for 
us  to  know  how  the  Bible  was  written  and  how  it  has 
been  preserved.  The  Bible,  however,  being  a  living 
book,  has  an  interesting  biography,  and  a  knowledge  of 
this  biography,  even  in  outline,  will  enable  us  to  appre- 
ciate the  Book  more.  We  are  not  therefore  losing 
sight  of  the  great  purpose  of  the  Bible  and  the  use  we 
should  make  of  it,  when  we  are  considering  how  it 
was  written  and  how  it  has  been  preserved  for  us. 

In  the  days  before  the  printing  press,  when  books  were 
both  expensive  and  scarce,  people  depended  more  upon 
memory  than  they  do  to-day.  Wliat  we  commit  to  the 
written  or  printed  page  was  then  committed  to  memory. 
So,  much  of  the  material  which  has  come  down  to  us 
through  the  Scriptures  was  at  one  time  committed  to 
memory  and  passed  on  from  generation  to  generation  as 
oral  tradition.  The  old  contention,  however,  that  the 
written  Word  of  God  must  be  of  comparatively  late  ori- 
gin because  of  the  late  development  of  writing  is  not  well 
supported,  for  it  has  been  discovered  that  long  before 
the  days  of  Moses  writing  was  commonly  practiced. 

35 


36  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

The  most  ancient  writings  which  have  come  down  to 
us  were  upon  tablets  or  bricks  of  clay,  which  were 
hardened  by  burning.  While  the  clay  was  soft,  marks 
were  made  upon  it  by  means  of  a  sharp  instrument 
which  left  a  triangular  impression.  Hence  this  writing 
has  been  called  "cuneiform,"  which  means  "wedge- 
shaped."  This  kind  of  writing  is  six  thousand  years  old. 
Tablets  written  in  the  days  of  Abraham  have  been 
preserved  and  recently  dug  up.  Great  libraries  whose 
shelves  were  filled  with  these  tablets,  have  been  dis- 
covered. One  of  these  libraries,  discovered  at  Tel-el- 
Amarna,  in  Egypt,  contained  clay  tablets  bearing  the  cor- 
respondence of  the  Syrian  governors  with  their  Egyptian 
masters.  These  tablets  were  written  about  1400  B.C., 
which  would  be  about  the  time  of  Moses.  Stone 
also  was  used  in  writing;  the  Ten  Commandments 
were  written  on  stone.  One  of  the  most  remarkable 
ancient  records  is  the  Moabite  Stone,  inscribed  prob- 
ably about  850  b.c.  by  Mesha,  king  of  Moab,  in  which 
he  told  of  his  victory  over  Omri,  king  of  Israel.  This 
stone  was  discovered  in  1868.  Writing  tablets  of  wax 
were  commonly  used  in  ancient  times,  as  were  also 
tablets  of  wood.  But  the  manuscripts  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament were  written  upon  skins  which  were  cut  and 
fastened  together  to  form  a  scroll.  In  some  localities 
papyrus,  a  kind  of  paper  made  from  the  papyrus  reed 
which  grew  in  Egypt,  was  most  used.  Papyrus  manu- 
scripts have  been  found  which  were  written  as  long  ago 
as  2500  B.C. 

In  the  actual  preparation  and  writing  of  their  manu- 
scripts the  authors  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  must  have 
used  methods  varying  according  to  the  character  of  the 
book  itself  and  the  disposition  of  the  writer.    In  some 


HOW  BIBLE  WAS  WRITTEN  AND  PRESERVED  37 

of  the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
authors  drew  upon  traditions  which  had  come  down 
from  more  ancient  times,  and  also  made  use  of  ancient 
or  current  records.  For  example,  The  Book  of  Joshua 
quotes  The  Book  of  Jasher,  Josh.  10  :  13,  as  does  II 
Sam.  1  :  18.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  book  of  ancient 
poems.  Ezra  quoted  from  the  court  records  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians.  Both  Kings  and  Chronicles  indi- 
cate that  they  were  written  with  documents  in  hand, 
for  we  read  that  the  rest  of  the  deeds  of  the  kings 
to  whose  reigns  these  books  refer  were  to  be  found  in 
records  which  were  then  available.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment thus  refers  to  the  following  sources  of  material: 
The  History  of  Samuel  the  Seer,  The  History  of  Nathan 
the  Prophet,  The  History  of  Gad  the  Seer,  The  Chron- 
icles of  King  David,  The  Visions  of  Iddo  the  Seer,  The 
History  of  Shemaiah  the  Prophet,  The  History  of 
Iddo  the  Seer,  and  others.  The  writers  evidently 
selected  what  fitted  their  purpose.  But  we  can  well 
imagine  that  the  prophets,  with  their  hearts  set  on  fire 
by  the  conditions  which  they  saw  and  their  minds 
illuminated  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  delivered  their  mes- 
sages hot  from  the  heart.  And  these  messages  were 
afterwards  written  down  and  thus  preserved.  Jere- 
miah, we  are  told,  dictated  his  messages  to  Baruch, 
his  scribe,  and  when  this  scroll  was  destroyed  even  a 
fuller  record  of  the  prophet's  messages  was  made  and 
preserved.  Jer.  36  :  4,  27,  32.  The  psalms  were  written 
by  various  authors,  much  as  our  hymns  and  poems  are 
composed.  Probably  at  first  some  of  them  may  have 
been  stored  in  the  memory  and  repeated  again  and 
again,  and  finally  committed  to  writing.  Some  of 
them  were  probably  written  out  carefully  in  the  first 


38  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

place.  These  psalms  were  finally  gathered  together 
and  arranged  in  the  book  of  The  Psalms. 

Most  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  were  formed  more  or 
less  independently  of  the  others.  Only  gradually  were 
they  brought  together  into  the  collection  which  was 
generally  accepted  by  the  Jews  as  containing  all  the 
writings  which  should  be  included  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures. Ezra,  the  scribe,  no  doubt  had  much  to  do  with 
the  preservation  and  arrangement  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Books,  when  the  Jews  returned  to  their  country 
after  the  Exile. 

In  the  Hebrew  Bible  the  books  were  not  arranged 
as  in  our  own  Bible,  but  were  in  three  groups  or  divi- 
sions: The  Law,  The  Prophets,  and  The  Sacred  Writings. 
The  Law  included  the  five  books  of  the  Pentateuch. 
The  Prophets  included  Joshua,  Judges,  Samuel,  and 
Kings,  which  came  to  be  known  as  the  former  prophets, 
and  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  the  twelve  Minor 
Prophets,  which  were  called  the  latter  prophets.  The 
Sacred  Writings,  the  third  group  of  books  in  the  He- 
brew Bible,  included  Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Lamenta- 
tions, Song  of  Solomon,  Ruth,  Ecclesiastes,  Esther, 
Daniel,  Chronicles,  Ezra,  and  Nehemiah.  The  collec- 
tion of  the  Old  Testament  books  was  completed  by 
about  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  B.C. 

As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  there  were  trans- 
lations of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  before  the  Christian 
Era.  The  Old  Testament  was  translated  into  Greek 
for  the  use  of  Greek-speaking  Jews,  and  this  version, 
known  as  the  Septuagint  because  it  was  said  to  have 
been  made  by  seventy  or  seventy-two  scholars,  has 
preserved  for  us  the  Old  Testanient  in  a  Greek  form. 
Later  the  Jews  no  longer  spoke  the  old  Hebrew  in  which 


HOW  BIBLE  WAS  WRITTEN  AND  PRESERVED  39 

their  Scriptures  were  originally  written,  Aramaic  had 
become  their  common  language,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  translate  or  interpret  in  Aramaic  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures for  the  worshipers  in  the  synagogue.  Such  a 
free  translation  or  interpretation  in  Aramaic  was  known 
as  a  Targum.  The  Targums  have  thus  preserved  for 
the  world  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  in  Aramaic. 

It  can  readily  be  seen  that  after  the  establishment 
of  the  Christian  Church  the  Old  Testament  would  be 
preserved  through  two  channels:  The  Jews  would  pre- 
serve it  as  their  Scriptures;  the  Christians  would  pre- 
serve it  as  a  part  of  their  Bible. 

The  New  Testament  came  into  existence  not  many 
years  after  Jesus'  earthly  ministry  came  to  an  end. 
The  apostles  were  commissioned  to  go  into  all  the 
world  and  teach  all  nations  to  observe  all  the  things 
that  Jesus  had  commanded  them.  Thus  they  were 
called  upon  to  tell  the  story  of  Jesus'  life  and  teaching. 
This  they  could  readily  do,  for  they  had  been  with 
Jesus  and  learned  of  him.  The  events  of  his  life  and  the 
words  that  he  had  spoken  were  engraved  deeply  upon 
their  minds.  One  who  heard  from  the  apostles  the 
story  of  Jesus'  life  and  teaching  would  repeat  the 
testimony  to  others.  Thus  by  word  of  mouth  the  gospel 
spread.  Accordingly  it  must  not  be  insisted  that  the 
written  Word  is  essential  for  salvation;  the  Christian 
Church  and  the  gospel  existed  before  any  of  the  New 
Testament  books  were  written. 

But  the  word-of-mouth  method  of  transmitting  the 
truth  is  precarious.  Tradition  becomes  untrustworthy. 
All  hearers  do  not  listen  with  the  same  care,  understand 
with  the  same  clearness,  remember  with  the  same 
exactness,  or  repeat  with  the  same  accuracy.   There  is  a 


40  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

tendency,  even  unconsciously,  to  add  to  what  has  been 
heard,  or  to  take  away  from  it.  So  in  the  early  Church, 
tradition  became  unreliable  and  therefore  the  account 
of  Jesus'  hfe  and  teaching  was  committed  to  writing. 
Many,  however,  undertook  this  task  who  were  not 
qualified  for  it.  Of  all  the  first  century  accounts  of 
Jesus'  Hfe  and  teaching,  only  four  have  been  preserved 
for  us  in  the  New  Testament.  Luke  tells  us  that  his 
Gospel  was  written  after  careful  research.  He  was  a 
historian  who  examined  documents,  traced  genealogies, 
looked  up  records,  interviewed  witnesses,  and  then 
wrote  his  Gospel.  Mark,  the  author  of  the  Second 
Gospel,  was,  we  are  told,  not  only  a  fellow  worker  with 
Paul,  but  also  a  companion  of  Peter,  and  the  stories  of 
Jesus  and  his  teaching  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  that 
zealous  apostle  were  committed  to  paper  by  Mark  in 
order  to  preserve  them  for  future  generations,  thus 
giving  us  the  most  vivid  picture  of  Jesus  which  is  to  be 
found  in  the  New  Testament.  On  the  other  hand, 
Matthew,  the  author  of  the  First  Gospel,  makes  much 
of  Jesus'  discourses  and  has  preserved  for  us  at  length 
much  that  Jesus  said,  in  addition  to  an  account  of  his 
life. 

Luke  was  a  historian,  and  it  has  been  said  that  his 
second  book.  The  Acts,  is  one  of  the  best  pieces  of  his- 
torical writing  that  has  ever  been  done.  This  book  was 
written  after  careful  research  and  as  a  result  of  personal 
observation,  for  some  of  the  events  are  described  as  by 
an  eyewitness. 

The  Gospel  of  John,  so  different  from  the  other  Gos- 
pels, was  written  more  as  an  interpretation  of  the  life 
and  teaching  and  personality  of  Jesus.  The  Fourth 
Gospel  indicates  that,  in  addition  to  the  more  simple 


HOW  BIBLE  WAS  WRITTEN  AND  PRESERVED  41 

narratives  of  the  three  Synoptic  Gospels  which  gave 
the  facts  concerning  Jesus  and  his  teaching  and  left  the 
reader  to  draw  his  own  conclusion,  there  was  need  of  an 
interpretation  of  these  facts  and  of  other  facts  which, 
not  given  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  are  included  in  the 
Gospel  of  John.    So  the  Fourth  Gospel  was  written. 

At  first  it  may  seem  strange  that  the  epistles  of  the 
New  Testament,  which  discuss  some  of  the  essential 
principles  of  Christianity,  were  written  before  the 
Gospels  which  tell  the  story  of  Jesus,  the  Founder  of 
Christianity.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
gospel  and  the  Church  both  existed  before  any  of  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament  were  written.  So,  through 
the  testimony  of  the  apostles  and  others  who  heard  the 
truth  from  them,  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  became 
known  to  all  the  followers  of  Christ.  But,  in  part  be- 
cause the  teaching  of  the  early  Church  was  oral,  and  so 
depended  upon  teachers  rather  than  upon  a  written 
record  which  would  not  change  as  it  passed  from  hand 
to  hand,  errors  both  in  faith  and  practice  crept  into  the 
churches.  So  letters  were  written  to  correct  these 
errors  and  to  explain  Christian  truth  which  was  not 
clearly  understood.  The  letters  of  Paul  were  addressed 
to  particular  churches,  such  as  the  church  in  Thessa- 
lonica,  or  Ephesus,  or  Philippi,  or  Corinth.  They  were 
read,  however,  in  other  churches  also  and  thus  were 
given  wider  circulation.  Under  Paul's  direction  other 
workers  were  engaged  in  the  oversight  of  the  churches. 
To  guide  them  in  their  work  Paul  wrote  such  letters  as 
have  been  preserved  for  us  in  his  First  and  Second 
Epistles  to  Timothy  and  his  Epistle  to  Titus.  Or  such 
an  incident  as  the  conversion  of  a  runaway  slave  in 
Rome  led  to  Paul's  sending  this  runaway  slave  back  to 


42  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

his  Christian  master  with  a  letter  which  would  lead  the 
master  to  treat  the  slave  as  a  brother,  and  the  slave  to 
serve  his  master  with  all  fidehty.  This  is  the  story  of 
the  Epistle  to  Philemon.  So  the  General  Epistles  were 
written  by  the  Apostle  John,  the  Apostle  Peter,  James 
and  Jude,  the  brothers  of  Jesus,  as  occasion  called  for 
these  messages.  The  Revelation  of  John  was  called 
forth  by  the  vision  which  John  had  as  an  exile  on 
the  Isle  of  Patnios.  The  book  was  sent  to  the  seven 
churches  of  Asia,  as  a  part  of  Asia  Minor  was  then  called, 
for  their  warning  and  their  encouragement. 

These  various  books  of  the  New  Testament  would  be 
circulated,  and  copies  made  for  use  in  the  different 
churches.  A  group  of  Christians  would  have  some  of 
the  Gospels  and  some  of  the  Epistles.  When  a  copy  of 
another  of  these  books  was  secured,  this  would  be  added 
to  the  collection  already  in  hand.  In  this  way,  gradu- 
ally, a  collection  of  books  came  to  be  recognized  as 
belonging  with  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  as  the 
inspired  Word  of  God.  It  took  many  years  to  collect 
all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  and  to  determine 
just  what  books  were  entitled  to  a  place  in  the  Scrip- 
tm'es.  In  some  places  a  certain  book  might  not  be  so 
well  known  as  in  other  localities.  But  at  last  the 
twenty-seven  books  which  now  constitute  the  New 
Testament  came  to  be  generally  accepted  by  the  Chris- 
tian Church  as  the  true  Word  of  God. 

Even  when  the  New  Testament  had  been  formed  by 
gathering  together  in  one  collection  the  twenty-seven 
books  which  constitute  it,  the  preservation  of  this  New 
Testament  library  was  no  simple  matter.  Before  the 
days  of  printing,  books  had  to  be  copied  by  hand.  This 
was  a  slow,  expensive  process,  and  limited  the  number 


HOW  BIBLE  WAS  WRITTEN  AND  PRESERVED  43 

of  copies.  Manuscript  copies  of  the  Bible  would  be- 
come worn  out,  just  as  books  are  worn  out  to-day  by 
constant  use.  Thus  the  originals  would  disappear,  and 
only  copies  would  be  preserved.  These  copies  in  turn 
would  be  worn  out  and  only  copies  of  them  preserved. 

Strange  things  happened  to  some  of  these  old  manu- 
scripts. Many  of  them  were  kept  in  ancient  monasteries 
and,  because  writing  materials  were  scarce,  the  monks 
would  use  the  pages  of  a  manuscript  of  the  Scriptures 
as  writing  paper.  Sometimes  they  would  write  across 
or  between  the  lines. 

One  of  the  most  thrilling  tales  connected  with  the 
story  of  the  Bible  is  that  of  the  discovery  of  what  is 
known  as  the  Sinaitic  manuscript.  On  Mount  Sinai, 
in  the  Desert  of  Arabia,  is  an  ancient  convent  bearing 
the  name  of  St.  Catherine.  Here  Dr.  Tischendorf,  the 
famous  New  Testament  scholar,  went  to  seek  manu- 
script treasures.  In  1844  he  discovered  in  a  wastebasket 
forty-three  leaves  of  an  old  manuscript.  This  he  found 
to  be  a  part  of  a  copy  of  the  Septuagint,  or  the  Greek 
version  of  the  Old  Testament.  In  1853  he  visited  the 
monastery  again,  but  to  no  purpose.  In  the  year  1859, 
however,  he  discovered  the  rest  of  that  old  manuscript, 
containing  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine  leaves  of  the 
Septuagint  and  the  entire  New  Testament  in  Greek. 
This  is  the  most  complete  manuscript  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament which  has  ever  been  found.  It  is  also  one  of  the 
two  oldest  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament,  if  not 
the  oldest,  in  existence.  It  had  been  preserved  since 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  century.  Think  of  a  copy  of  the 
Bible  kept  through  fifteen  hundred  years!  Tischendorf 
himself  believed  that  this  was  one  of  the  fifty  copies 
of   the   Scriptures   which   Emperor   Constantino   had 


44  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

ordered  to  be  prepared  for  the  churches  of  Constan- 
tinople in  the  year  331.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  the 
manuscript  was  written  certainly  before  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century. 

New  discoveries  of  manuscripts  of  the  Scriptures  are 
being  made  from  time  to  time.  One  of  the  latest  avail- 
able reports  indicates  that  there  are  now  known  to  be 
in  existence  over  one  hundred  uncial  Greek  manuscripts 
— that  is,  manuscripts  written  in  capital  letters — which 
are  the  oldest  manuscripts,  and  three  thousand  cursive 
manuscripts,  or  manuscripts  written  in  a  running  hand. 
Of  course,  these  various  manuscripts  are  of  larger  or 
smaller  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  the  oldest  manuscripts  of 
the  Bible  are  manuscripts  of  the  Greek  Bible.  The 
oldest  manuscript  of  part  of  the  Hebrew  Old  Testa- 
ment belongs  to  the  tenth  century  a.d.  The  oldest 
manuscript  of  the  entire  Hebrew  Old  Testament  is  dated 
A.D.  1010.  But  the  Hebrew  text  or  wording  of  the  Old 
Testament  "has  come  down  to  us  practically  un- 
changed since  at  least  the  second  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian Era." 

The  ancient  manuscripts,  copied  and  recopied  by 
hand,  have  kept  for  us  the  writings  of  the  authors  of 
the  books  of  the  Bible.  In  view  of  the  discoveries  of 
ancient  manuscripts  which  are  being  made  from  time 
to  time,  no  one  can  tell  what  old  manuscripts  may  yet 
be  unearthed  to  confirm  the  accuracy  with  which  God's 
Word  has  been  preserved  in  the  world.  How  the  He- 
brew Old  Testament  and  the  Greek  New  Testament 
were  passed  on  to  us  in  the  English  Bible  will  be  con- 
sidered in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI 
OUR  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

The  Bible  has  often  been  a  lost  book.  In  the  days 
of  Josiah,  king  of  Judah,  when  workmen  were  engaged 
in  the  repair  of  the  Temple,  they  discovered  a  copy  of 
the  Law,  which  was  the  Bible  of  that  day.  It  had 
been  lost  in  the  rubbish  of  the  neglected  Temple.  Again, 
during  the  Exile,  the  Bible,  so  far  as  it  had  then  been 
written,  was  once  more  a  lost  book.  Ezra  was  the  man 
who  saved  the  Scriptures  for  the  nation.  When  the 
Law,  preserved  by  this  scribe  in  Babylon,  was  read  to 
a  great  public  assembly  at  Jerusalem,  it  was  a  new  book 
•to  the  people.  These  are  not  isolated  cases;  similarly 
in  the  experience  of  individuals,  of  families,  of  com- 
munities, and  of  nations,  the  Bible  has  become  a  lost 
book  because  it  has  been  unopened  by  the  individual, 
has  become  dust-covered  in  the  home,  and  has  been 
ignored  and  forgotten  by  the  community  and  the 
nation.  The  casting  of  pages  of  the  Bible  into  the 
wastebasket  of  the  Convent  of  St.  Catherine  reminds 
us  of  what  has  only  too  often  happened  to  the  Word  of 
God  at  the  hands  of  men. 

There  have  been  times  also  when  the  Bible  has  been 
lost  in  the  obscurity  of  an  unknown  tongue.  God's 
Word  cannot  be  understood  until  it  is  translated  into 
the  living  language  of  the  people.  Every  time  the 
Bible  is  translated,  it  is  like  finding  God's  Word  again. 
This  rediscovery  of  the  Scriptures  through  its  transla- 
tion into  the  language  of  the  people  has  been  repeated 

45 


46  OUR  REASONABLE  FAiTH 

again  and  again.  The  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Old 
Testament  into  Greek,  was  a  rediscovery  of  the  Word 
of  God  for  Greek-speaking  Jews  who  were  scattered 
among  the  nations.  The  translation  into  Aramaic 
was  a  rediscovery  of  the  Book  for  the  Aramaic-speaking 
Jews  of  Palestine.  When  the  conquest  of  Rome  made 
Latin  the  common  language  of  the  West,  the  Bible  was 
rediscovered  by  its  translation  into  Latin. 

There  were  a  number  of  Latin  translations,  but  one 
of  these,  by  the  famous  scholar  Jerome,  in  the  fourth 
century  a.d.,  supplanted  all  others  and  became  the 
commonly  accepted  version  and,  with  some  modifica- 
tions, was  declared  to  be  the  authoritative  Bible  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  It  was  accordingly  called 
the  "Vulgate,"  from  the  Latin  word  vulgo,  "to  make 
common."  This  is  still  the  authorized  Bible  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church. 

The  translation  of  the  Bible  into  English  was  not 
due  to  the  encouragement  of  the  Roman  Church.  That 
Church  has  rather  feared  the  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  the  language  of  the  common  people,  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  not  to  be  trusted  to  interpret  it.  Only 
heroism  that  was  ready  to  endure  the  test  of  martyrdom 
secured  for  us  the  Bible  in  our  own  language. 

In  the  year  1213,  King  John  of  England  was  forced 
by  a  ban  to  recognize  the  sovereignty  of  the  pope,  who 
accordingly  demanded  the  payment  of  a  rental  by  the 
English  king.  For  more  than  one  hundred  years  this 
rent  was  irregularly  paid.  Then  thirty  years  passed  in 
which  no  rental  was  paid.  But  in  1365,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  III,  Pope  Urban  V  suddenly  demanded  the 
payment  of  back  rental.  There  was  consternation 
among  the  advisers   of  the  king.     Did  the  English 


OUR  ENGLISH  BIBLE  47 

sovereign  dare  to  refuse  the  pope's  demands?  At  this 
critical  time  England  found  her  champion  in  John  Wyclif , 
a  priest  of  the  Church  and  a  famous  scholar  of  Oxford. 
He  declared  that  the  pope  had  no  claim  upon  England. 
This  champion  of  English  independence  became  also 
the  champion  of  religious  liberty. 

Wyclif  was  a  man  of  insight.  He  realized  that  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures  in  religion  must  be  set  over 
against  the  authority  of  the  pope.  England's  salvation 
depended  upon  the  people's  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. He  himself  had  been  a  student  of  the  Word  of 
God,  and  had  preached  Scriptural  sermons  in  his 
church.  In  order  that  Biblical  preaching  might  be 
heard  by  the  people  everywhere  he  organized  his  "poor 
priests,"  who  went  about  preaching  the  Word  of  God. 
But  how  were  they  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  when 
they  did  not  have  the  Bible  in  their  own  language? 
And  how  were  the  people  to  read  God's  Word  for  them- 
selves so  long  as  the  only  available  Bible  was  the  Latin 
Vulgate,  written  in  an  ancient  tongue  which  they  did 
not  understand? 

Portions  of  the  Bible  had  been  translated  into  Eng- 
lish, and  the  Psalms  in  English  were  in  existence;  but 
there  was  no  English  Bible.  Wyclif  accordingly  set 
himself  to  the  task  of  translating  the  Latin  Vulgate 
into  the  language  of  the  common  people.  He  com- 
pleted the  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  his  friend 
Nicholas  of  Hereford  translated  a  large  part  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  some  one,  perhaps  Wyclif  himself, 
completed  the  translation.  The  entire  Bible  was  thus 
rendered  into  English  in  1382.  This  was  the  first  com- 
plete English  Bible.  The  whole  was  later  revised, 
partly  by  Wyclif  himself,  but  the  task  was  not  com- 


48  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

pleted  and  the  book  published  until  four  years  after 
Wyclif's  death. 

Published,  it  should  be  noted,  does  not  mean  printed, 
for  the  printing  press  had  not  been  discovered  and 
Wyclif's  English  Bible,  like  the  ancient  manuscripts 
themselves,  had  to  be  copied  by  hand.  This  made 
the  Bible  expensive. 

There  was  great  demand  for  Wyclif's  Bible.  Copies 
could  not  be  made  fast  enough.  It  is  said  that  a  load 
of  hay  was  paid  for  the  privilege  of  reading  one  of  the 
books  for  a  day.  But  the  Church  authorities  did  not 
want  the  people  to  read  the  Bible  for  themselves. 
They  had  a  law  passed  forbidding  anyone  to  read 
Wyclif's  Bible  upon  penalty  of  the  forfeiture  of  land, 
cattle,  life,  and  goods  by  their  heirs  forever.  Never- 
theless, the  English  Bible  was  copied  and  circulated 
and  read.  So  many  copies  were  produced  and  pre- 
served that  there  are  in  existence  to-day  one  hundred 
and  seventy  manuscripts  of  this  Bible. 

Wyclif  translated  his  English  Bible  from  the  Latin 
Vulgate.  Because  the  original  Scriptures  were  written 
in  Hebrew  and  Greek,  it  was  felt  that  the  English  trans- 
lation should  be  made  out  of  the  original  tongues.  Ac- 
cordingly, more  than  one  hundred  years  after  Wyclif's 
Bible  was  first  published,  William  Tyndale  undertook 
to  translate  the  Bible  into  English  from  Hebrew  and 
Greek  manuscripts.  The  way  had  been  prepared  for 
him  by  Wyclif's  translation,  and  he  himself  was  pe- 
culiarly fitted  for  his  task.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
master  of  seven  languages,  among  them  Hebrew,  Greek, 
Latin,  and  English.  Thus  he  could  make  good  use  of 
Wyclif's  and  Jerome's  translations,  in  addition  to  the 
available  texts  in  the  original  languages.     Compelled 


OUR  ENGLISH  BIBLE  49 

to  leave  England,  Tyndale  continued  his  work  on  the 
Continent.  At  last,  after  many  mishaps  due  to  perse- 
cution, the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was  com- 
pleted. The  invention  of  the  printing  press  made  it 
possible  for  the  new  translation  to  be  produced  speedily 
in  large  numbers.  In  spite  of  difficulties  Tyndale  suc- 
ceeded in  printing  three  thousand  copies  of  the  New 
Testament  which  were  shipped  secretly  to  England. 
Altogether  eighteen  thousand  copies  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  printed.  Some  were  bought  by  eager  readers, 
others  were  purchased  in  order  that  they  might  be 
burned.  So  successful  was  the  effort  to  destroy  Tyn- 
dale's  translation  of  the  New  Testament  that  only 
two  copies  of  the  eighteen  thousand  copies  printed  are 
in  existence  to-day.  One  of  these  lacks  the  title-page, 
and  the  other  is  much  less  complete.  The  translation 
of  the  Old  Testament  was  undertaken,  but  before  it 
was  completed  Tyndale  was  betrayed  by  a  supposed 
friend,  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  he  was  strangled  to 
death  and  his  body  burned.  It  was  a  high  price  which 
our  forefathers  paid  for  our  English  Bible. 

In  spite  of  the  bitter  opposition  to  the  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  English,  the  demand  for  the  Word  of  God 
in  the  language  of  the  people  led  in  1534  to  the  request  to 
the  king,  by  a  convocation  under  Archbishop  Cranmer, 
to  choose  learned  men  who  would  translate  the  Bible 
into  English  and  deliver  it  into  the  hands  of  the  people. 
The  result  was  the  Bible  of  Myles  Coverdale,  which 
appeared  in  1535  and  leaped  into  popularity.  It  was 
soon  printed  with  the  king's  license.  Little  did  those 
who  opposed  Tyndale's  New  Testament  and  welcomed 
Coverdale's  Bible  realize  that  Coverdale  had  himself 
been  associated  with  Tyndale.  Coverdale  did  not  trans- 
4 


50  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

late  from  the  original  languages  but  made  use  of  such 
translations  as  Tyndale's  English  Bible,  Luther's  Ger- 
man Bible,  and  the  Zurich  Bible,  which  was  also  in 
German,  printed  in  1530,  and  largely  the  same  as 
Luther's. 

Next  John  Rogers,  using  Tyndale's  translation  of 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  from  Genesis  to  II 
Chronicles,  Coverdale's  version  of  the  rest  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  printed  in 
1537  a  translation  of  the  Bible  under  the  name  of 
Thomas  Matthew.  The  Matthew's  Bible  was  now  the 
best  English  Bible  yet  made,  and  was  circulated  by  the 
authority  of  Henry  VIII. 

Still,  Matthew's  Bible  was  not  altogether  satisfactory, 
and  Coverdale  was  commissioned  to  prepare  another 
revision.  He  employed  Greek  and  Hebrew  scholars 
to  aid  him,  and  with  their  help  the  new  text  was  pre- 
pared. The  plan  was  to  print  the  book  in  Paris,  but 
the  Inquisition  interfered  with  the  progress  of  the  work. 
The  sheets  already  printed,  however,  were  saved  and 
the  presses  shipped  to  England,  where  the  work  was 
finished  in  1539.  This  Bible,  because  of  its  great  size 
and  imposing  form,  was  called  the  Great  Bible.  It 
proved  to  be  popular,  and  was  placed  in  the  churches 
where  it  could  be  read  by  the  people. 

When  Edward  VI  became  king  in  1547,  English 
Bibles  were  printed  in  great  numbers,  but  Mary  Tudor, 
a  Roman  Catholic,  who  succeeded  him  in  1553,  pro- 
hibited the  use  of  the  English  Bible  and  removed  it 
from  the  churches.  At  this  time  a  number  of  earnest 
Protestants  fled  to  Switzerland,  where  they  found 
refuge  in  Geneva.  There  they  planned  to  prepare  a  new 
English  version  of  the  Scriptures.    This  was  based  upon 


OUR  ENGLISH  BIBLE  51 

the  Old  Testament  of  the  Great  Bible  and  Tyndale's 
latest  new  Testament.  This  English  Bible,  which  ap- 
peared in  its  complete  form  in  1560,  was  known  as  the 
''Genevan  Bible."  In  this  book  the  present  chapter 
and  verse  divisions  appeared  for  the  first  time.  It  also 
contained  marginal  notes.  So  popular  was  this  English 
version  of  the  Bible  that  it  passed  through  one  hundred 
and  sixty  editions,  and  continued  to  be  printed  even 
after  the  publication  of  the  Authorized  Version  in  1611. 

Although  the  Genevan  Bible  was  a  popular  version, 
the  Church  authorities  in  England  were  not  satisfied 
with  a  Bible  translated  by  English  fugitives  in  Switzer- 
land, and  so  a  new  revision  of  the  Great  Bible  was 
planned.  A  number  of  scholars,  among  them  nine 
bishops,  prepared  a  new  version  which  was  published 
in  1568.  This  was  known  as  the  Bishop's  Bible.  Be- 
cause this  Bible  was  issued  by  the  Church  authorities 
it  displaced  the  Great  Bible  in  the  churches. 

Another  English  Bible  appeared  in  the  first  decade 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  for  very  different  reasons. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church  found  that  there  was  a 
great  demand  for  the  Bible  in  EngHsh,  but  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  translations  which  had  been  made 
outside  its  own  fold.  It  must  have  its  own  version. 
Accordingly  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  English  for 
Catholics  was  begun  in  Douai,  France,  and  for  that 
reason  the  finished  translation  became  known  as  the 
Douai  Bible.  This  of  course  was  not  a  translation  out 
of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  but  from  the  Latin  Vulgate 
which  is  the  Authoritative  Bible  of  the  Roman  Church. 
The  Douai  Bible  was  printed  in  1609-1610. 

James  I  came  to  the  throne  of  England  in  1603.  He 
was  a  student  of  the  Scriptures,  and  had  at  one  time 


52  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

begun  the  translation  of  The  Psalms.  This  fact  opened 
the  way  for  a  new  translation.  There  were  now  in 
England  the  Great  Bible,  the  Genevan  Bible,  and  the 
Bishop's  Bible,  but  when  a  Puritan  leader  suggested  to 
James  that  none  of  these  versions  was  satisfactory  and 
there  was  need  of  a  new  translation,  the  king  eagerly 
welcomed  the  suggestion.  Fifty-four  scholars,  the  most 
learned  men  of  that  day,  were  appointed  for  the  work, 
although  the  records  show  the  names  of  only  forty- 
seven.  Meeting  in  six  groups,  two  at  Westminster, 
two  at  Oxford,  and  two  at  Cambridge,  these  scholars 
spent  about  six  years  in  private  study  and  in  work  to- 
gether. Then  nine  months  were  spent  by  all  together 
in  London,  in  the  final  work  of  revising.  In  1611  the 
results  of  this  great  undertaking  were  seen  in  the  print- 
ing of  the  King  James  Version  of  the  English  Bible, 
which  is  often  called  "The  Authorized  Version,"  al- 
though there  is  no  record  of  its  being  authorized  by 
either  king,  parliament,  or  council.  After  changes  and 
corrections  in  1614  and  in  1629,  it  appeared  in  its  final 
form  in  1638.  This  is  the  King  James  Version  of  to- 
day, which  for  three  centuries  was  the  commonly 
accepted  English  Bible.  This  Bible  has  been  called 
"the  standard  of  perfect  English,"  and  has  been  loved 
and  is  still  loved  by  millions  of  readers.  No  one  can 
measure  the  influence  of  this  marvelous  English  trans- 
lation of  the  Scriptures. 

Three  centuries,  however,  brought  many  changes. 
As  has  been  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter,  old 
manuscripts  of  the  Scriptures,  such  as  the  Sinaitic 
manuscript  found  by  Tischendorf  in  Mount  Sinai,  were 
being  discovered.  When  the  King  James  Version  was 
translated  there  was  not  a  single .  uncial  manuscript 


OUR  ENGLISH  BIBLE  53 

known,  while  to-day  there  are  over  one  hundred  uncial 
manuscripts  of  the  Scriptures  available.  These  manu- 
scripts helped  scholars  to  get  nearer  to  the  original  text 
of  the  Bible.  Besides  this,  the  Hebrew  language  was 
better  understood  than  in  the  days  of  the  making  of  the 
King  James  Version.  Added  to  this  was  the  fact  that 
three  centuries  had  brought  changes  in  the  English  lan- 
guage itself.  The  meaning  of  words  had  altered,  and  the 
English  Bible  did  not  now  say  to  modern  readers  quite 
what  it  said  in  1611  when  the  translation  was  originally 
made.  Toward  the  end  of  the  last  century  there  was  a 
growing  feeling  on  the  part  of  scholars  that  advantage 
should  be  taken  of  the  manuscripts  discovered  since 
the  translation  of  1611  and  the  increased  knowledge 
of  the  tongues  in  which  the  Bible  was  originally  written, 
to  produce  a  new  version  which  would  translate  the 
Scripture  into  the  English  language  of  to-day. 

Accordingly,  in  1870,  the  Church  of  England  under- 
took a  revision  of  the  English  Bible.  The  revision 
company  was  composed  of  scholars  of  all  denomina- 
tions. As  in  the  case  of  the  committee  originally 
appointed  by  King  James,  these  scholars  numbered  fifty- 
four.  Twenty-seven  of  them  were  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment company,  and  twenty-seven  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment company.  The  New  Testament  company  began 
its  work  on  June  22,  1870,  and  a  few  days  later,  on  June 
30,  the  Old  Testament  company  entered  upon  its  labors. 
The  companies  met  at  stated  intervals,  holding  sessions 
for  ten  days  and  working  six  hours  a  day.  Thus  the 
whole  Bible  was  revised  twice.  At  the  same  time  there 
were  American  scholars  who  were  interested  in  the  re- 
vision of  the  Bible,  and  an  American  committee  was 
appointed  to  cooperate  with  the  British  committee. 


54  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

The  committee  began  its  work  in  1872.  The  results 
of  the  work  of  the  British  committee  and  of  the  Amer- 
ican committee  were  exchanged  for  criticism  and  sug- 
gestion. And  thus,  after  ten  and  a  half  years  of  labor 
on  the  part  of  the  British  New  Testament  Company, 
on  May  17,  1881,  the  Revised  New  Testament  was 
put  on  sale  in  England.  Three  days  later  it  was  for 
sale  in  America.  In  less  than  a  year  almost  three  mil- 
lion copies  of  the  Revised  New  Testament  were  sold. 
The  Old  Testament  was  issued  in  1884,  after  fourteen 
years  of  labor.  In  1885  the  whole  Revised  English 
Bible  appeared. 

One  would  think  that  this  might  end  the  story.  But 
many  of  the  suggestions  made  by  the  American  revisers 
were  not  accepted  by  the  British  committee.  The 
American  committee,  however,  had  promised  not  to 
issue  a  revision  of  its  own  until  fourteen  years  had 
passed  after  the  publication  of  the  completed  Revised 
Version.  Near  the  end  of  the  fourteen  years,  on  August 
26,  1901,  the  survivors  of  the  American  committee, 
having  kept  full  records  of  its  recommendations,  after 
further  study  issued  what  is  known  as  the  American 
Standard  Version.  Many  consider  this  to  be  the  most 
perfect  English  Bible  in  existence. 

Even  this  is  not  the  end  of  the  story  of  the  Bible  in 
English.  In  recent  years  the  Bible  has  appeared  in 
modern  English.  These  translations  are  unlike  the  Re- 
vised Version  and  the  American  Standard  Version  in 
one  respect.  The  revised  versions  were  revisions  of  the 
King  James  Version,  while  the  newer  translations  are 
entirely  independent,  the  translators,  unhampered  by 
any  other  versions,  endeavoring  to  translate  the  original 
Hebrew  and  Greek  into  the  language  of  the  common 


OUR  ENGLISH  BIBLE  55 

people  of  to-day.  All  these  are  efforts  to  make  the 
Bible  more  readily  understood  by  English-speaking 
people. 

Thus  through  the  stud}^,  the  toil,  the  devotion,  the 
unswerving  purpose,  and  even  the  bloodshed  of  many 
lovers  of  God's  Word,  through  many  centuries,  we 
have  the  Bible  in  our  own  tongue  so  that  we  may  read 
it  and  understand  it. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  ULTIMATE  TRANSLATION 

The  purpose  of  the  Scriptures  is  to  translate  the 
thought  of  God  into  the  thought  and  feeHng  and  Hfe 
of  men.  The  first  stage  in  this  complex  process  is  the 
translation  of  the  thought  of  God  into  human  language. 
This  first  stage  has  been  a  long  and  tedious  process. 
God  has  often  spoken  to  men  through  their  experience, 
and  the  events  of  history  pondered  over  by  men  whose 
minds  were  illuminated  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  brought 
thoughts  to  their  minds  which  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  were  expressed  in  human  language. 
Sometimes  God  spoke  so  directly  to  his  messengers  that 
they  declared,  ''Thus  saith  the  Lord."  They  became 
God's  spokesmen,  or  prophets.  All  this  was  with  the 
purpose  of  expressing  the  thought  of  God  in  human 
language. 

This  revelation  of  God's  thoughts  and  their  expres- 
sion in  human  language  was  a  long,  slow  process.  The 
reader  of  the  Bible  soon  discovers  that  there  is  what 
may  well  be  called  ''progressive  revelation."  As  a 
language  in  which  God  could  speak  to  men  was  de- 
veloped, the  message  became  clearer  and  clearer.  Jesus 
himself  said,  "I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you, 
but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now."  All  through  the  Old 
Testament,  God  had  been  revealing  his  thoughts  to 
men  as  they  were  able  to  bear  them.  It  would  be  no 
simple  matter  for  the  infinite  God  to  find  language  in 
which  to  speak  to  finite  men.    How  can  the  philosopher 

56 


THE  ULTIMATE  TRANSLATION  57 

teach  his  thoughts  to  the  infant  until  that  infant  has 
acquired  a  language  capable  of  conveying  the  philoso- 
pher's thought?  In  the  Old  Testament  we  see  the 
growing  clearness  of  the  translation  of  God's  thought 
into  human  language,  as  man's  power  to  receive  the 
truth  increased. 

Take  as  a  single  example  the  purpose  of  God  to 
redeem  sinners  through  the  sacrifice  of  his  Son.  Gen- 
esis tells  of  God's  promise  in  Eden  that  a  descendant 
of  Eve  should  conquer  the  Tempter.  God  promised 
Abraham  to  bring  a  great  blessing  to  all  nations 
through  him.  The  sacrifices  of  *the  law,  prescribed 
in  the  Pentateuch,  pointed  to  the  sacrifice  for  sin 
which  some  day  should  be  offered,  once  for  all,  in  the 
death  of  'Hhe  Lamb  of  God."  The  Old  Testament 
prophets  looked  forward  with  increasing  clearness  of 
vision  to  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  The  Book  of 
Isaiah  marvelously  characterizes  him  in  its  fifty- 
third  chapter.  The  Gospels  tell  of  the  fact  of  his 
coming,  and  of  his  character  and  teaching  and  work. 
The  Epistles  go  further,  and  interpret  the  nature  of 
his  person  and  the  meaning  of  his  work.  In  this  we 
see  an  illustration  of  the  long  process  by  which  God 
translated  his  thought  into  the  language  of  men. 

Or  take  God's  revelation  of  his  character  to  men. 
As  we  turn  the  pages  of  the  Scriptures  in  their  histor- 
ical order  we  find  a  more  and  more  exalted  conception 
of  the  character  of  God,  until  as  we  listen  to  Jesus 
Christ  we  begin  to  conceive  of  God  as  he  is. 

The  words  of  a  language  must  have  meaning  stamped 
upon  them  through  experience,  before  they  can  trans- 
late the  thought  of  God  into  human  speech.  It  is  not 
mere  imagination  to  believe  that  God  prepared  the 


58  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

Greek  language  in  order  that  the  New  Testament  rev- 
elation might  find  expression  in  its  words  and  construc- 
tions which  had  been  shaped  to  be  molds  into  which  he 
would  pour  his  thought.  And  yet  because  God's  thought 
could  not  be  fully  translated  into  words,  and  so  prophets 
must  fail  as  God's  messengers,  in  the  fullness  of  time 
God  sent  his  own  Son  to  translate  his  thought  in  terms 
of  life  itself,  a  life  that  no  words  can  adequately  de- 
scribe and  no  language  accurately  characterize. 

''We  beheld  his  glory,  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten 
from  the  Father,"  wrote  John,  and  the  writer  of 
Hebrews  says,  ''God,  having  of  old  time  spoken  unto 
the  fathers  in  the  prophets  by  divers  portions  and  in 
divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of  these  days  spoken 
unto  us  in  his  Son,  whom  he  appointed  heir  of  all  things, 
through  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds;  who  being  the 
effulgence  of  his  glory,  and  the  very  image  of  his  sub- 
stance, and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his 
power,  when  he  had  made  purification  of  sins,  sat 
down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high." 

The  writer  is  not  forgetting  the  meaning  which  was 
impressed  by  the  philosophers  upon  the  Greek  word 
logos,  or  "word,"  of  John  1  :  1,  when,  in  thinking  of 
God's  translation  of  his  thought  into  human  language, 
he  suggests  that  Jesus  was  "the  Word,"  the  translation 
of  God's  thought  into  a  language  which  men  could  under- 
stand. Jesus  said,  "He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father."  In  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  God  had 
at  last  succeeded  in  translating  his  thought  for  men. 

God's  expression  of  his  thoughts  in  the  Scriptures, 
however,  is  not  the  ultimate  translation  which  it  is 
the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  emphasize.  Nor  is  this 
ultimate  translation  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures 


THE  ULTIMATE  TRANSLATION  59 

into  our  own  tongue  so  that  we  can,  for  ourselves,  read 
God's  thoughts  in  our  own  language.  For  language 
is  merely  the  medium  for  the  translation  of  thoughts 
from  one  mind  to  another  mind.  A  word  is  the  effort 
to  express  a  thought.  If  the  translation  of  that  thought 
is  to  be  completed,  the  word  must  suggest  to  the  hearer 
the  same  thought  which  it  was  chosen  to  express.  If 
you  have  in  mind  the  thought  of  an  object  which  is 
round,  of  a  color  between  red  and  yellow,  with  thick 
covering  which  is  both  smooth  and  soft,  and  within 
which  is  a  juicy  substance  delicious  to  the  taste  and 
good  for  food,  and  you  wish  to  pass  this  thought  on  to 
the  mind  of  another,  you  will  use  the  word  "orange.'^ 
Into  that  word  you  have  compressed  your  thought; 
you  have  translated  it  into  the  word  ''orange."  But 
what  will  that  word  mean  to  the  person  who  hears  it? 
Will  ''orange"  suggest  to  him  exactly  what  it  meant 
to  you  when  you  used  the  word;  will  he  translate  the 
word  "orange"  in  his  own  mind  into  your  idea  of  an 
orange?  The  translation  of  your  thought  is  not  com- 
plete when  you  have  packed  your  thought  into  the  word 
"orange,"  but  when  the  word  has  been  unpacked,  or 
translated,  into  the  same  thought  in  the  mind  of  your 
friend. 

God  wishes  to  speak  to  us,  to  transfer  his  thoughts 
to  our  minds,  so  that  we  shall  think  his  thoughts  after 
him.  So  he  has  spoken  to  men  through  the  Old  Tes- 
tament prophets  as  his  messengers;  so  he  sent  his 
Son  to  live  and  to  teach;  so  he  gave  his  Holy  Spirit 
to  guide  the  New  Testament  writers  in  telling  us  of 
Jesus.  As  a  result  the  world  has  in  Hebrew  and  Aramaic 
and  Greek  the  thought  of  God,  so  far  as  his  thought 
could  be  expressed  in  the  words  of  men.   But  the  Hebrew 


60  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

words  and  the  Greek  words,  whether  written  or  spoken, 
mean  nothing  at  all  to  most  of  us.  These  are  dead 
languages.  So  in  the  providence  of  God  the  Scriptures 
have  been  translated  into  our  own  tongue  in  order 
that  English  words,  corresponding  to  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  words,  might  speak  to  us  and  our  minds  might 
translate  the  thought  bound  up  in  these  words  into 
the  corresponding  thought  in  our  own  minds.  For  the 
translation  of  God's  Word  is  not  complete  until  the 
words  God  used  to  express  his  thought  in  human  lan- 
guage have  brought  into  our  minds  the  thought  God 
intended  to  put  into  those  words. 

How  imperative  it  is,  therefore,  that  we  read  and 
study  God's  Word  with  dihgence,  with  inteUigence, 
with  prayer,  and  with  a  conscious  dependence  upon 
the  Spirit  of  God  who  is  to  guide  us  into  all  truth,  lest 
our  own  preconceptions  and  our  own  limitations  either 
rob  the  words  of  God  of  some  of  their  meaning  or  read 
into  them  our  own  meaning  instead  of  God's  meaning! 
Have  the  Scriptures  brought  to  our  minds  God's  own 
thought?  Until  they  have  done  this,  the  original  Scrip- 
tures have  not  been  fully  translated  so  far  as  we  are 
concerned. 

This  is  one  reason  why  we  need  Bible  students  who 
will  use  their  knowledge  of  language  and  of  God's 
revelation  in  his  Word  in  order  that  we  may  be  helped 
to  get  from  the  Scriptures  the  thought  which  God  put 
into  the  words.  Often  it  has  been  said,  "The  Bible 
means  what  it  says."  But  that  statement  is  not 
altogether  true.  God's  Word  means  what  God  intended 
it  to  say  and  it  is  our  business,  so  far  as  in  us  lies, 
to  find  out  just  what  God  intended  to  say  to  us  through 
his  Word.    So  the  Bible  must  be  read  in  the  light  of  the 


THE  ULTIMATE  TRANSLATION  61 

rules  and  principles  of  language.  This  is  why  the  Bible 
in  the  English  of  our  day  is  better,  at  least  for  the  pur- 
pose of  study,  than  a  Bible  in  archaic  Enghsh,  beautiful 
as  that  archaic  English  may  be,  if  the  language  does 
not  mean  to  the  reader  what  it  meant  when  it  was 
written. 

Even  when  we  have  perceived  God's  thought,  we 
have  not  attained  the  ultimate  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. God's  purpose  has  not  been  accomplished  even 
when  the  words  of  the  Scriptures,  in  a  language  we 
understand,  have  translated  God's  thought  into  our 
own  thought  so  that  we  think  God's  thoughts  after  him. 
A  thought  must  be  translated  into  the  feeling  which 
that  thought  should  arouse.  It  is  not  enough  that  the 
name  "God"  should  convey  to  our  minds  all  that  the 
Bible  has  written  into  it.  The  word  ''God"  which 
brings  to  the  mind  all  that  the  Bible  has  written  into 
it  must  translate  itself  into  those  feelings  which  we 
should  have  toward  that  God — the  feelings  of  humility, 
of  reverence,  or  holy  fear,  and  of  love. 

Not  even  yet  have  we  reached  the  ultimate  trans- 
lation of  God's  Word.  The  purpose  God  had  in  the 
revelation  of  his  thought  in  human  language  will  not 
be  accomplished  until  the  transfer  of  his  thought  to 
our  minds  has  not  only  stirred  our  emotions  aright, 
but  has  also  led  to  that  conduct  and  life  which  expresses 
his  thought  in  action.  The  Bible  is  not  merely  a  book 
to  think  by;  it  is  a  book  to  Hve  by;  and  until  the  Bible 
is  translated  into  conduct  in  everyday  life,  it  has  failed 
of  its  ultimate  purpose.  In  Titus  1:1,  Paul  said  of 
himself,  ''Paul,  a  servant  of  God,  and  an  apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  faith  of  God's  elect,  and 
the  knowledge  of  truth  which  is  according  to  godliness." 


62  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

In  his  letter  to  Timothy,  also,  he  speaks  of  'Hhe  doc- 
trine which  is  according  to  godliness."  The  truth  is  in 
order  to  right  living. 

When  Jesus  had  talked  to  the  multitudes,  with  his 
own  disciples  as  his  special  congregation,  he  marvelously 
put  God's  thoughts  into  human  language.  He  re- 
vealed the  mind  of  God.  There  was  something  about 
his  words  and  his  manner  which  impressed  all  who 
heard.  They  ''were  astonished  at  his  teaching:  for 
he  taught  them  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as 
the  scribes."  Read  carefully  again  the  now  familiar 
words  of  Jesus  with  which  he  closed  his  translation  of 
the  thought  of  God  into  the  language  of  men  and  in 
which  he  made  plain  what  is  meant  here  by  the  ultimate 
translation  of  God's  Word:  ''Every  one  therefore  that 
heareth  these  words  of  mine,  and  doeth  them,  shall  be 
likened  unto  a  wise  man,  who  built  his  house  upon  the 
rock :  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and 
the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house ;  and  it  fell 
not:  for  it  was  founded  upon  the  rock.  And  every  one 
that  heareth  these  words  of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not, 
shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  who  built  his 
house  upon  the  sand:  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the 
floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  smote  upon  that 
house;  and  it  fell:  and  great  was  the  fall  thereof." 

This  is  the  ultimate  translation  of  the  thought  of 
God:  He  that  "heareth  these  words  of  mine,  and  doeth 
them."  It  is  the  translation  of  God's  thought,  made 
plain  through  language,  into  life. 


II 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  FAITH 


"And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  should  know  thee  the  only 
true  God,  and  him  whom  thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus  Christ." 
John  17:3. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  GREAT  FUNDAMENTAL  FACT 

As  we  look  about  us  in  the  world  we  discover  that 
there  are  many  kinds  of  knowledge.  We  discover  also 
that  all  knowledge  is  not  of  equal  value.  And  since  no 
one  person  can  know  everything,  it  becomes  necessary 
to  choose  from  all  available  knowledge  those  things 
which  it  is  of  greatest  importance  for  us  to  know. 

When  a  young  man  is  planning  his  education  he  must 
choose  the  branches  of  study  to  which  he  will  devote 
himself  with  a  view  to  fitting  himself  for  his  career. 
He  cannot  study  all  the  branches  which  the  high  school 
or  academy  offers;  much  less  can  be  take  all  the  courses 
which  the  college  or  university  affords.  The  student 
therefore  must  ask  himself,  ''What  do  I  most  need  to 
know?" 

In  the  great  school  of  experience  it  behooves  every 
one  of  us  to  ask  himself,  ''What  do  I  most  need  to  know 
in  order  that  I  may  most  truly  live?" 

If  achieving  manhood  consists  in  building  a  strong, 
vigorous,  and  healthy  body,  then  the  answer  will  be, 
"What  you  most  need  to  know  is  the  science  of  health 
with  its  branches  of  physiology,  hygiene,  dietetics, 
sanitation,  body-building,  and  so  forth." 

But  what  if  life  consists  in  more  than  bodily  strength 
and  physical  comfort?  Suppose  we  discover  that  the 
man  with  the  gun  can  defeat  the  man  with  the  club; 
that  the  man  with  tools  can  accomplish  more  than  the 
man  with  bare  fingers  or  a  stick  of  wood  or  a  sharp 
5  65 


66  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

stone ;  that  the  man  with  the  steam  engine  can  outwork 
the  man  with  bare  muscle.  Then  to  achieve  manhood 
we  must  pursue  that  branch  of  knowledge  which  we 
may  call  the  practical  sciences. 

Suppose  again  that  real  manhood  is  not  achieved 
when  one  has  outstripped  his  fellows  in  materialistic 
accomplishment,  but  that  man  finds  his  higher  self  in 
relationship  to  others,  in  home  life,  in  business  coopera- 
tion, in  the  various  relationships  of  society.  Then  we 
shall  wish  to  study  the  science  of  social  relationships 
and  political  economy  in  order  that  we  may  learn  the 
art  of  living  with  others. 

Now  suppose  that  we  discover  that  intellect,  the 
power  to  think  and  reason,  is  what  marks  man  as  dif- 
ferent from  the  beasts.  Then  in  order  to  achieve  man- 
hood and  really  live,  we  must  include  in  our  studies 
and  give  prime  place  to  that  cultural  knowledge  which 
will  develop  the  intellect  and  enlarge  personality,  and 
fit  us  for  fellowship  with  other  minds.  Then  we  will 
study  psychology,  philosophy,  and  literature. 

But  suppose  when  we  have  studied  all  the  branches 
the  importance  of  which  we  have  thus  far  come  to 
realize,  we  should  discover  that  it  takes  more  than 
physical  powers  and  practical  arts,  social  relationships 
and  intellectual  achievement,  to  make  real  manhood. 
Suppose  we  discover  that  underlying  all  these  there 
must  be  established  what  we  call  character.  Suppose 
we  discover  that  brute  strength  uncontrolled  by  right 
motives  becomes  inhuman  cruelty;  that  skill  unguided 
by  sympathy  becomes  mere  selfish  acquisition  to  the 
hurt  of  others;  that  a  knowledge  of  social  relationships 
divorced  from  a  good  conscience  ministers  only  to 
tyranny;  and  that  intellectual  superiority  untempered 


THE  GREAT  FUNDAMENTAL  FACT      67 

by  the  spirit  of  service  leads  to  the  enslavement  of  lesser 
intellects.  Then  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
if  life  in  the  truest  sense  is  really  to  be  achieved,  we 
must  give  first  place  to  the  search  for  knowledge  of 
what  is  right  in  every  relationship  in  life  and  to  the 
building  of  character  which  will  render  right  choices 
practically  certain,  and  make  sure  the  carrying  out  of 
right  decisions  when  they  have  once  been  made.  Of 
what  value  is  physical  strength  when  murder  is  in  the 
heart?  or  skill  if  utter  selfishness  controls?  or  mastery 
of  social  relationships  if  these  become  the  mere  tools 
of  base  desire?  or  intellect  if  it  is  nothing  more  than  the 
instrument  of  selfishness?  Man's  greater  need  is  to 
know  what  is  right,  to  desire  what  is  right,  and  to  build 
a  character  which  will  assure  the  doing  of  the  right. 

Now  suppose  that  the  soul  of  man  is  being  molded 
in  this  life  for  a  life  beyond,  and  that  in  building  char- 
acter— that  possession  which  gives  man  his  "manhood" 
— he  is  building  something  which  shall  endure  through- 
out eternity;  does  not  the  truth  about  the  soul  and  its 
eternal  relationships  become  the  most  important  branch 
of  knowledge  which  man  can  acquire? 

And  suppose  that  in  the  search  for  character  we  dis- 
cover that,  after  all,  religion  is  the  great  character 
builder,  that  men  become  like  what  or  whom  they 
worship.  Does  not  their  search  for  the  true  God  in 
order  to  discover  and  achieve  true  manhood  become 
the  supreme  goal  in  the  search  for  truth?  If  Augustine 
was  right  when  he  said,  ''Thou  hast  made  us  for  thy- 
self and  our  heart  is  restless  until  it  rest  in  thee,"  is 
it  not  true  that  the  supreme  need  of  man,  for  the 
achievement  of  the  highest  manhood,  is  to  find  and 
know  God? 


68  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

If  we  should  turn  the  pages  of  all  history  and  seek 
the  highest  example  of  manhood  the  world  has  known, 
that  example  of  manhood  will  be  found  to  be  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus.  Living  centuries  before  the  great  modern 
achievements  of  which  we  boast,  he  was  and  still  is  the 
truest  man.  And  what  is  the  secret  of  his  manhood? 
The  answer  is,  his  character.  And  what  is  the  secret 
of  his  character?  The  answer  is,  his  relation  to  God. 
And  what  is  his  message  to  men  who  seek  the  fullest 
and  truest  life?  This  is  his  word:  ''And  this  is  life 
eternal,  that  they  should  know  thee  the  only  true  God, 
and  him  whom  thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus  Christ." 

Fundamental  to  all  life's  relationships  is  our  relation- 
ship to  God,  and  the  most  fundamental  knowledge  is 
the  knowledge  of  God.  Do  we  not  see  this  to  be  true 
as  soon  as  we  begin  to  think  about  it?  Assuming  that 
God  is  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  world  in  which 
we  live,  see  what  follows: 

If  God  planned  the  human  body,  can  it  be  possible 
for  us  to  achieve  the  fullest  health  and  the  utmost  vigor 
if  we  ignore  the  Maker  of  the  body  in  our  attempts  to 
discover  the  science  of  health?  If  God  planned  the 
material  world  in  which  we  live,  how  can  we  hope  truly 
to  subdue  the  earth  if  we  ignore  Him  who  made  nature? 
Can  we  expect  to  learn  the  laws  of  nature  if  we  ignore 
and  deny  Him  who  made  these  laws  which  are  his  will 
impressed  upon  the  material  world?  Do  we  learn  the 
intricacies  of  a  marvelous  machine  by  scornfully  push- 
ing the  inventor  out  of  the  way?  And  is  there  not  evi- 
dence enough  in  the  history  of  the  world  to  show  that 
where  men  deny  God,  true  science  cannot  prosper? 
Have  not  true  science  and  knowledge  of  God  gone  to- 
gether?    ''Because  that,  knowing  God,  they  glorified 


THE  GREAT  FUNDAMENTAL  FACT  69 

him  not  as  God,  neither  gave  thanks;  but  became  vain 
in  their  reasonings,  and  their  senseless  heart  was 
darkened.  Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  be- 
came fools."     Rom.  1  :  21,  22. 

If  God  made  the  human  heart,  can  men  possibly  lay 
the  foundations  of  a  true  society  if  they  deny  Him  who 
wrote  the  laws  of  social  relationships  in  man's  nature? 
And,  if  character  depends  upon  a  true  sense  of  right, 
can  character  be  achieved  when  men  do  not  seek  to 
know  Him  whose  voice  speaks  in  the  conscience  and  to 
whose  righteous  laws  the  conscience  points  when  it 
insists,  ''Thou  shalt,"  and  ''Thou  shalt  not"? 

If  in  God  "we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being," 
can  we  truly  live  except  as  we  come  to  know  him?  If 
we  are  really  to  live  in  God's  universe,  we  must  seek  to 
know  God.  No  wonder  the  Bible  begins  with  the  strik- 
ing words,  "In  the  beginning  God."  Without  God 
there  would  be  no  world,  no  human  body,  no  soul,  no 
social  nature,  no  conscience.  God  is  the  fundamental 
fact  of  the  universe.  He  who  seeks  to  know  God  will 
find  all  truth  waiting  in  his  path;  but  he  who  shuts  his 
mind  against  God  dulls  his  powers  of  perception,  warps 
his  judgment,  and  beclouds  his  intellect. 

To  seek  God  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom. 


CHAPTER  II 
IGNORING  GOD 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  to  know  God  is  the  secret 
of  life  in  its  truest  and  highest  sense,  men  go  on  ignoring 
him;  for  it  is  possible,  within  limits,  to  ignore  God. 

When  Moses  came  out  of  the  wilderness  where  he  had 
learned  to  know  Jehovah,  the  God  of  his  fathers  and  the 
God  of  his  enslaved  people,  he  stood  before  Pharaoh, 
the  haughty  sovereign  of  Egypt,  with  the  message  of 
God:  "Thus  saith  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  Let  my 
people  go,  that  they  may  hold  a  feast  unto  me  in  the 
wilderness."  But  the  proud  sovereign  of  the  Egyptian 
Empire  scornfully  curled  his  lip,  and  scoffed:  "Who  is 
Jehovah,  that  I  should  hearken  unto  his  voice  to  let 
Israel  go?  I  know  not  Jehovah,  and  moreover  I  will 
not  let  Israel  go." 

This  haughty  and  self-sufficient  ruler  did  not  know 
God  and,  furthermore,  did  not  care  to  know  him.  He 
thought  that  with  the  brush  of  his  hand  he  could  sweep 
this  God  of  the  Hebrews  out  of  his  kingdom,  just  as 
men  to-day  sweep  God  out  of  the  material  world  and 
give  him  no  place  in  their  science;  sweep  him  out  of 
their  intellectual  world  and  give  him  no  place  in  their 
philosophy;  sweep  him  out  of  their  moral  world  and 
give  his  commandments  no  authority  over  their  con- 
science. They  live  without  God.  They  are  modern 
Pharaohs,  setting  up  a  kingdom  in  which  they  give 
God  no  place. 

But  Pharaoh  discovered,  to  his  dismay,  that  he  had 
70 


IGNORING  GOD  71 

not  gotten  rid  of  God.  He  did  not  know  Jehovah;  but 
it  was  Jehovah  who  had  given  him  hfe.  He  did  not 
know  Jehovah;  but  this  God  of  the  Hebrews  was  he 
who  had  sent  the  rains  that  fed  the  sources  of  the  Nile, 
who  had  given  Hfe  to  the  seed  that  ripened  into  Egypt's 
rich  harvests,  who  had  sent  the  sunshine  to  nourish 
field  and  vineyard  and  orchard. 

Pharaoh  came  to  realize  that  he  could  no  more  get 
rid  of  God  than  a  man  to-day  can  get  rid  of  the  law  of 
gravitation.  A  man  may  ignore  the  statement  that  two 
bodies  attract  each  other  in  direct  proportion  to  the 
product  of  their  masses  and  inversely  as  the  square  of 
their  distance  apart,  but  he  will  go  right  on  buying  food 
weighed  according  to  this  formula  and  paying  for  it 
with  coins  whose  intrinsic  worth  is  determined  by  this 
formula. 

The  man  who  wishes  to  erect  a  building  may  ignore 
the  laws  of  stress  and  strain  and  of  strength,  if  he  wishes, 
but  when  his  building  collapses  beneath  his  feet  and  falls 
in  over  his  head  he  will  realize  that  ignoring  the  law  of 
gravity  is  perilous. 

Pharaoh  made  just  such  a  discovery.  His  disdaining 
Jehovah  whom  he  did  not  care  to  know  turned  the 
sacred  Nile  into  a  stinking  river,  and  out  of  that  great 
source  of  fertility  came  the  croaking  frogs  to  cover  the 
land.  Out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth  came  the  pests  of 
lice  and  flies.  His  flocks  and  herds  sickened  and  died. 
Pestilence  visited  his  people.  Jehovah  who  was  ignored 
opened  the  sky  and  poured  out  hail  and  let  loose  armies 
of  devouring  locusts.  This  God  whom  Pharaoh  did 
not  care  to  know  put  his  fingers  before  the  sun  and 
darkness  covered  the  land  of  Egypt,  but  between  his 
fingers  he  let  the  light  shine  upon  the  land  where  his 


72  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

people  Israel  dwelt.  This  proud  and  self-sufficient 
king  heard  the  sound  of  mourning  in  his  land,  and  dis- 
covered that  the  God  whom  he  ignored  was  the  God  of 
life.  He  fell  upon  his  knees  before  Moses,  with  the 
cry,  "  I  have  sinned  against  Jehovah  your  God  .  .  . 
entreat  Jehovah  your  God.  .  .  .  Rise  up,  get  you 
forth  from  among  my  people,  both  ye  and  the  children 
of  Israel;  and  go,  serve  Jehovah,  as  ye  have  said." 
Pharaoh  could  ignore  and  scoff  at  God;  but  he  had  to 
pay  the  penalty  of  his  willful  ignorance. 

Men  to-day  can  ignore  God  and  can  for  a  time  go  on 
living  in  their  self-sufficiency.  Men  can  dig  the  trea- 
sures God  stored  up  in  the  earth  and  can  deny,  or 
ignore.  Him  who  put  them  there.  They  can  harness 
the  forces  of  nature  to  do  their  work  and  can  rebel 
against  Him  who  impressed  upon  these  forces  the  very 
laws  that  make  them  capable  of  becoming  man's  ser- 
vants. They  can  create  and  carry  on  their  great  busi- 
ness enterprises  while  they  ignore  Him  who  gives  them 
the  power  to  get  wealth.  They  can  establish  godless 
homes  and  organize  a  godless  society,  with  their  own 
laws  instead  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  ignoring  God 
who  planted  love  in  the  human  heart  and  who  made  men 
to  dwell  together.  They  can  manufacture  their  own  re- 
ligions, to  suit  their  own  tastes  rather  than  their  natures, 
and  ignore  Him  in  whom  they  Hve  and  move  and  have 
their  being,  and  who  alone  can  satisfy  their  souls. 
They  can  do  all  this,  just  as  Pharaoh  swept  God  out  of 
Egypt  with  the  gesture  of  his  sovereign  hand;  but  the 
penalty  must  be  paid.  There  is  bound  to  come  in  the 
experience  of  the  individual,  the  community,  the  na- 
tion, or  the  world,  that  does  not  seek  to  know  God  and 
His  will,  just  such  an  experience  as  that  which  in  our 


IGNORING  GOD  73 

day  laid  waste  the  fertile  fields,  flooded  the  rich  mines, 
ate  up  the  world's  wealth,  deluged  the  earth  with  blood, 
and  brought  the  sorrow  of  death. 

"The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God.'' 
The  fool  is  the  man  who  does  not  know  how  to  make 
the  most  of  life.  If  the  world  could  only  see  the  folly 
of  trying  to  live  without  God,  or  of  trying  to  live  in 
ignorance  of  God,  the  educational  institutions  of  the 
nations  would  be  reconstructed  with  the  aim  of  seeking 
to  impart  first  of  all  a  knov/ledge  of  the  character  and 
the  will  of  the  true  God,  whom  to  know  is  life. 

The  simple  words  of  the  Intermediate  Catechism 
are  true  :  ''We  most  need  to  know  what  God  would 
have  us  believe  and  do." 


CHAPTER  III 
HOW  WE  MAY  LEARN  TO  KNOW  GOD 

If,  then,  man's  greatest  need  is  to  know  God,  we 
must  seek  the  answer  to  the  question:  How  may  we 
learn  to  know  God?  It  may  help  us  to  answer  this  ques- 
tion if  we  ask  ourselves  another  question:  How  do  we 
learn  to  know  people?  How  do  people  reveal  to  us 
what  they  are? 

The  first  answer  is  that  we  learn  to  know  people  by 
what  they  do.  We  know  the  inventor  by  his  invention, 
the  workman  by  his  product,  the  thinker  by  his  philos- 
ophy, the  novelist  by  his  book,  the  musician  by  his 
music.  We  may  learn  to  know  God  first,  then,  by  his 
works,  by  what  he  has  done.  In  the  works  of  God  we 
should  include  not  only  the  material  world  in  which 
we  live,  but  also  man  himself  with  his  God-given 
powers.  Human  history  reveals  the  character  of  Him 
who  rules  and  overrules  in  the  affairs  of  men. 

There  are  some  who  hesitate  to  accept  the  statement 
that  we  may  learn  to  know  God  through  nature.  They 
seem  to  think  that  this  statement  detracts  from  the 
Scriptures  as  the  revelation  of  God  to  men.  But  the 
Scriptures  themselves  teach  us  that  we  may  learn  to 
know  God  through  nature  if  we  have  the  seeing  eye 
and  the  listening  ear.    In  Psalm  19  we  read  : 

"The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God; 
And  the  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork. 
Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech, 
And  night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge." 
74 


HOW  WE  MAY  LEARN  TO  KNOW  GOD  75 

The  world  of  nature  is  one  of  God's  books  in  which  he 
has  written  his  character,  and  nature  is  one  of  the  voices 
by  which  he  tells  men  of  himself.  And  so  the  poet 
Addison,  in  his  hymn  which  is  really  an  exposition  of 
the  early  verses  from  Psalm  19,  after  speaking  of  the 
spacious  firmament,  the  unwearied  sun,  the  spangled 
heavens  with  their  stars  and  planets,  declared : 

What  though  in  solemn  silence  all 
Move  round  this  dark  terrestrial  ball? 
What  though  nor  real  voice  nor  sound 
Amidst  their  radiant  orbs  be  found? 
In  reason's  ear  they  all  rejoice, 
And  utter  forth  a  glorious  voice; 
For  ever  singing,  as  they  shine, 
"The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine." 

Nor  is  the  idea  that  we  may  learn  to  know  God 
through  nature  the  mere  poetic  fancy  of  psalmist  and 
hymn  writer.  Paul,  in  the  close  reasoning  of  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  urges  the  same  thought,  that  God  may 
be  known  through  his  works:  ''For  the  invisible  things 
of  him  since  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen, 
being  perceived  through  the  things  that  are  made,  even 
his  everlasting  power  and  divinity." 

What,  then,  does  nature  teach  us  about  the  character 
of  God?  As  we  examine  the  world  in  which  we  live  we 
must  conclude  that  the  Creator  of  the  world  is  almighty. 
Think  for  a  moment  of  the  forces  that  are  stored  up  in 
this  world.  Years  ago,  before  modern  methods  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  from  coal  even  more  of  its  stored  up 
energy,  a  writer  declared  that  experiments  with  a 
locomotive  showed  that  there  was  sufficient  power  in 
half  an  ounce  of  coal  to  move  two  tons  a  mile.  Weigh 
a  half  ounce  of  coal  and  see  what  space  it  occupies. 


76  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

But  when  that  caal  is  ignited  and  its  energy  is  turned 
into  heat,  and  that  heat  is  turned  into  steam  by  the 
process  of  boihng  water,  and  that  steam  is  harnessed 
in  a  locomotive  and  made  to  work,  the  coal — in  spite 
of  great  loss  in  this  transmutation  of  energy — can 
draw  two  tons  a  mile  over  the  rails.  Now  think  of  all 
the  coal  stored  up  in  the  mines  of  the  earth.  How 
great  must  have  been  the  power  which  originated  that 
energy!  And  then  remember  that  coal  represents  only 
an  infinitely  small  fraction  of  the  forces  in  the  world — 
electricity,  wind,  and  wave,  and  all  the  rest.  Think  of 
the  energy  stored  up  in  even  a  grain  of  radium.  What, 
then,  must  have  been  the  might  of  Him  who  called  all 
this  into  being  by  the  word  of  his  power!  Surely  from 
nature  we  learn  that  God  is  the  Almighty.  No  wonder 
that  men  who  in  their  ignorance  feel  after  God  humble 
themselves  before  the  Hghtning's  flash  or  the  con- 
suming fire  or  the  rushing  winds! 

Some  mathematician  busied  himself  with  calculations 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  all  the  strength  of  all 
mankind  that  had  ever  lived  upon  this  globe  could  be 
combined  into  one  gigantic  arm,  that  arm  could  not 
move  the  earth  one  foot  in  a  thousand  years.  Think 
then  of  the  power  of  Him  who  swung  the  earth  into 
space  at  its  tremendous  speed,  hurls  it  onward  turning 
on  its  axis  at  the  rate  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles 
an  hour  and  racing  about  the  sun  at  the  rate  of  sixty- 
six  thousand  miles  an  hour.  Then  think  that  this 
earth  is  but  a  speck  in  the  universe  that  astronomers 
know!  Are  we  not  assured  that  this  world  must  have 
come  from  the  hand  of  One  who  is  almighty? 

Nor  can  we  with  open  mind  examine  nature  without 
coming  to  the  conclusion  that  this  world  must  have 


HOW  WE  MAY  LEARN  TO  KNOW  GOD  77 

had  an  intelligent  Creator.  The  Creator  must  be  all- 
wise.  A  famous  medical  authority,  writing  in  a  light 
vain  for  popular  readers,  has  said:  ''If  we  knew  half 
as  much  chemistry  as  the  liver  has  known,  the  secrets 
of  the  universe  would  lie  before  us  like  an  open  book. 
Even  to-day  it  is  the  most  wonderful  and  resourceful 
chemical  laboratory  in  the  world.  We  think  we  have 
done  wonders  in  discovering  a  poison  that  will  kill  or 
neutralize  the  toxins  of  a  single  germ — such  as  mercury, 
or  the  diphtheria  antitoxin.  But  one  little  six-sided 
sallow-looking  lozenge  of  a  liver  cell,  no  larger  than  the 
head  of  a  pin,  not  only  can  neutrahze  and  destroy  any 
one  of  forty  different  toxins  and  poisons  that  are 
brought  to  it  by  the  blood  but  can  spHt  them  up  so 
ingeniously  as  actually  to  turn  one  part  of  them  into 
sugar  fuel,  another  into  starch  or  fat,  and  another  into 
harmless  bile  waste."  Whence  learned  the  liver  cell 
more  chemistry  than  the  greatest  modern  chemist? 
How  did  the  human  body  build  a  laboratory  superior 
to  the  finest  laboratory  the  modern  world  knows? 
Can  there.be  any  other  possible  answer  than  this:  The 
human  body  was  planned  and  formed  by  an  infinite 
Intelligence. 

Think  of  the  eye  with  its  lenses,  more  marvelous 
than  the  most  perfect  telescope  or  microscope  or 
camera — for  these  are  copied  after  the  eye.  Who  made 
the  eye  for  the  light  and  the  light  for  the  eye?  Who 
made  the  stomach,  with  its  chemistry  of  digestion? 
Who  made  the  cattle  upon  the  thousand  hills,  the  grains 
of  the  field,  the  fruits  of  the  orchard,  and  the  vegetables 
of  the  garden  for  the  gastric  juices  to  work  upon?  Who 
planned  the  lungs  for  the  air  and  the  air  for  the  lungs? 
Who  wrapped  up  the  oak  in  the  acorn,  and  prepared  the 


78  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

soil  and  the  rain  and  the  sun  to  furnish  just  the  ele- 
ments needed  to  unfold  that  living  germ  into  the 
mighty  oak?  Are  we  not  blind  when  we  cannot  see  in 
nature  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator? 

Man  prides  himself  upon  his  wisdom  in  discovering 
the  law  of  gravitation,  the  wave  lengths  of  light,  the 
secrets  of  sound.  Whence  came  these  laws  with  their 
uniformity?  Must  they  not  have  been  impressed 
upon  the  substance  of  the  world  by  One  who  sees  the 
end  from  the  beginning?  by  an  infinite  Intelligence? 

Does  not  God  also  in  his  works  reveal  himself  as  a 
God  of  righteousness?  How  else  could  man,  the 
creature,  possess  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong?  Whence 
this  voice  within  that  says,  "Thou  shalt"  and  "Thou 
shalt  not"? 

Has  not  the  course  of  history  shown  plainly  that 
underlying  society  are  moral  laws  which  are  working 
out  their  certain  ends?  The  nation  that  breaks  these 
laws  of  right  perishes  from  the  earth.  There  are  laws 
of  righteousness  written  in  our  natures  just  as  plainly 
as  the  laws  of  light  or  sound  or  gravitation  are  written 
in  the  material  world,  if  we  only  had  the  wisdom  to 
discern  them.  If  the  laws  of  the  material  world  reveal 
the  wisdom  of  God,  surely  the  laws  which  operate  in 
society  must  reveal  the  righteousness  of  God.  He  is  a 
moral  Being. 

If  all  this  is  so  clear,  why,  then,  is  there  so  much 
ignorance  of  God?  Are  men  blind?  Paul  answers: 
"Because  that,  knowing  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as 
God,  neither  gave  thanks;  but  became  vain  in  their 
reasonings,  and  their  senseless  heart  was  darkened. 
Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools, 
and  changed  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  for  the 


HOW  WE  MAY  LEARN  TO  KNOW  GOD  79 

likeness  of  an  image  of  corruptible  man,  and  of  birds, 
and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping  things."  Jesus 
shows  the  way  out  of  this  ignorance  of  God  when  he 
tells  us  that  only  the  surrendered  heart  can  lead  the 
mind  into  the  way  of  truth.  If  any  man  wills  to  do 
God's  will,  he  shall  know. 

Because  in  our  blindness  we  do  not  learn  to  know 
God  through  his  works,  he  has  revealed  himself  to  us  in 
his  Word.  In  the  Bible  God  has  taught  clearly  the 
lessons  of  history  and  has  made  his  character  known. 
And  because  of  the  difficulty  of  translating  his  thoughts 
and  his  character  into  human  language,  even  through 
inspired  spokesmen,  plainly  enough  for  us  to  under- 
stand, God  at  last  revealed  himself  by  means  of  the 
Word  made  flesh,  who  dwelt  among  us,  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God,  who  could  say,  ^'He  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father." 

How  then  shall  we  learn  to  know  God?  Through 
nature,  through  history,  through  experience;  more 
clearly  through  the  Scriptures;  but  supremely  through 
the  life  and  character  and  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ, 
God's  Son. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD 

The  Scriptures  contain  many  characterizations  of 
God.  Some  of  these  reveal  his  majesty  as  Creator  and 
as  Sovereign  of  all  the  earth,  while  others  emphasize 
his  righteousness,  his  holiness,  or  some  other  attribute. 
Some  of  these  characterizations  are  in  the  lofty  lan- 
guage of  the  prophet;  others  are  in  the  profound  words 
of  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  But  is  there  any- 
where in  the  Scriptures  a  more  illuminating  character- 
ization of  the  true  God  than  that  which  Jesus  himself 
gave  to  a  woman  of  Samaria? 

As  Jesus  and  the  woman  talked  by  the  well,  she 
asked  the  Teacher  to  settle  for  her  the  much  debated 
question  concerning  the  worship  of  God  which  was  a 
bone  of  contention  between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans: 
"Our  fathers  worshipped  in  this  mountain;  and  ye  say, 
that  in  Jerusalem  is  the  place  where  men  ought  to  wor- 
ship." Jesus  replied  that  how  men  should  worship  God 
should  be  determined  by  the  character  of  God  whom 
they  worship.  What  God  is,  will  answer  the  question  of 
how  he  must  be  served.  Then  Jesus  gave  this  woman 
the  wonderful  definition  or  characterization  of  God 
found  in  John  4  :  21-24. 

God  is  a  Spirit.  When  the  theologians  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  were  seeking  words  in  which 
to  characterize  God  in  the  ''Confession  of  Faith," 
they  went  back  to  this  conversation  of  Jesus  with  the 
woman  by  the  well  and  wrote  that  God  "is  a  most 

80 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD  81 

pure  spirit."  When  they  framed  a  briefer  character- 
ization of  God  in  the  Larger  Catechism,  they  quoted, 
''God  is  a  Spirit."  Then  in  the  famous  Shorter  Cate- 
chism, once  more  they  used  the  words  of  Jesus:  ''God 
is  a  Spirit." 

Probably  most  of  us,  when  we  first  heard  the  words 
"God  is  a  Spirit,"  felt  that  this  definition  made  God 
unreal.  With  the  word  "spirit"  we  associate  qualities 
and  powers  less  real  than  those  of  the  material  world 
in  which  we  live.  Accustomed  as  we  are  to  material 
things  which  we  can  see  and  feel  and  handle,  we  think 
a  God  who  is  pure  spirit  cannot  be  a  God  of  power. 
We  feel  that  there  is  something  unreal  about  a  spirit 
God.  The  forces  we  know  are  the  forces  of  the  material 
world.  The  granite  hills  are  our  idea  of  reality.  But 
the  fact  that  God  is  a  Spirit  does  not  make  him  any  less 
real  or  any  less  powerful. 

It  may  help  us  to  realize  this  if  we  think  of  the  great- 
est forces  we  know.  What  is  dynamite?  What  gives 
to  dynamite  and  other  great  explosives  their  power? 
Is  it  the  hard,  tangible  substance  of  which  they  are 
composed?  Is  it  not,  after  all,  just  the  capacity  of  these 
substances  to  convert  themselves  into  gases?  Their 
power  lies  in  the  rapid  generation  of  expanding  gases. 
But  if  material  substance  is  what  makes  reality,  surely 
there  would  be  more  force  in  the  substance  composing 
explosives  than  in  the  gas  which  it  generates  when  the 
substance  is  ignited.  Evidently,  then,  power  is  not 
in  proportion  to  solidity.  The  expanding  gas  of  the 
exploded  dynamite  can  actually  rend  the  granite  of  the 
eternal  hills. 

Electricity  is  not  a  substance.    You  cannot  measure 
its  bulk  or  weigh  its  mass.    It  can  be  measured  only  in 
6 


82  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

terms  of  force.  Electricity  is  so  ethereal  that  it  passes 
instantly  over  a  thin  copper  wire,  but  it  can  turn  night 
into  day,  can  change  the  cold  of  winter  into  the  heat 
of  summer,  and  can  run  the  great  machines  of  the 
factory  or  send  the  cars  speeding  over  the  rails. 

That  force  which  we  call  gravity  is  so  invisible  and 
so  intangible  that  for  centuries  the  world  never  sus- 
pected its  presence.  It  was  unseen,  untouched,  unfelt. 
All  that  men  knew  was  what  they  called  weight,  and 
yet  this  mighty  force  by  its  unseen  bands  was  holding 
the  universe  together  and  keeping  the  sun  and  the  moon 
and  the  distant  stars  in  their  places  and  maintaining 
the  equilibrium  of  the  universe. 

Many  scientists  to-day  who  have  tried  to  discover 
what  matter  really  is,  and  so  have  endeavored  to  ana- 
lyze and  dissect  it  and  learn  its  ultimate  nature,  say  that 
after  all  matter  is  just  force.  So  true  is  this  that  some 
philosophers  tell  us  that  the  world  is,  after  all,  a  spiritual 
system.  When  we  think  of  the  reality  of  force,  God 
does  not  become  less  real  but  more  real,  if  we  know  that 
God  is  a  Spirit.  And  does  it  not  seem  strange  that 
centuries  before  scientists  reached  their  modern  scien- 
tific conclusions  concerning  the  nature  of  the  material 
world,  Jesus  should  have  said,  "God  is  a  Spirit"? 

When  we  think  of  ourselves,  which  is  the  more  real, 
that  immaterial  being  which  dwells  within  the  body 
and  which  we  call  the  real  self,  or  the  body  in  which 
this  personality  dwells?  A  man  may  lose  his  leg,  but 
he  has  lost  nothing  of  his  true  self.  His  personality 
is  just  as  large  as  before,  and  often  his  physical  loss 
becomes  a  spiritual  acquisition.  He  may  be  blinded 
by  some  accident  to  the  eye  of  flesh,  but  his  spirit  can 
still  picture  the  scenes  which  are  stored  in  the  memory 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD  83 

and  can  paint  new  pictures  for  itself  upon  the  canvas 
of  the  mind.  The  musician  may  lose  his  hearing  through 
some  defect  in  his  physical  ear,  but  he  still  hears  the 
beautiful  melodies  and  sweet  harmonies  that  echo  within 
the  walls  of  his  inner  self.  The  materials  that  com- 
pose the  body,  we  are  told,  are  completely  changed  once 
in  seven  years;  and  yet  you  are  the  same  person  you 
were  seven,  or  fourteen,  or  twenty-one  years  ago.  The 
spirit  has  persisted  in  spite  of  the  decay  of  the  flesh. 
The  most  real  thing  you  know  is  yourself,  which  is 
spirit,  the  immaterial  tenant  of  your  material  body. 

Because  God  is  a  spirit  he  is  not  less  real,  but  more 
real  than  the  material  world  in  which  we  live.  So  the 
psalmist,  seeing  the  decay  of  earth's  tents  and  houses, 
might  well  say  of  God : 

"Lord,  thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place 
In  all  generations. 

Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth, 
Or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world, 
Even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  God. 

Let  us  now  come  back  again  to  Jesus'  words  to  the 
woman  by  the  well.  Jesus  said  something  besides  the 
great  fact  that  God  is  a  Spirit.  The  woman  had  wanted 
to  debate  which  of  the  two  locations  was  the  proper  place 
in  which  to  worship  God.  Jesus  replied,  ''The  hour 
cometh,  when  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  in  Jeru- 
salem, shall  ye  worship  the  Father."  And  why?  Be- 
cause true  worship  depends  upon  the  character  of  him 
who  is  worshiped,  and  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  is  not 
bound  to  any  location.  Unhampered  by  the  limitations 
of  the  material  world,  he  can  be  and  is  everywhere. 
He  is  omnipresent,  filUng  the  universe.  There  is  no 
voice  beyond  his  hearing,  no  place  beyond  his  reach. 


84  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

"Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit? 
Or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence? 
If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there; 
If  I  make  my  bed  in  Sheol,  behold,  thou  art  there. 
If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning, 
And  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea; 
Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 
And  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me." 

When  the  Temple  in  Jerusalem  was  dedicated  to  the 
worship  of  God,  Solomon  said  in  his  prayer, 

''But  will  God  in  very  deed  dwell  on  the  earth? 
behold,  heaven  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot 
contain  thee;  how  much  less  this  house  that  I  have 
builded!" 

Jesus  went  further  in  characterizing  God.  This 
universal  force  or  spirit  which  we  call  God  is  conscious, 
that  is,  he  is  personal.  Jesus  called  him  ''Father," 
and  said  of  him  that  "he  seeks."  These  words  remind 
us  of  the  father  in  the  parable  who  waited  for  his  son 
to  return,  and  of  the  shepherd  in  the  parable  who 
sought  his  sheep.  This  almighty  and  ever-present 
Spirit  knows  all  that  is  taking  place.  To  Moses  at  the 
burning  bush,  he  said,  "I  have  surely  seen  the  afflic- 
tion of  my  people  that  are  in  Egypt,  and  have  heard 
their  cry  by  reason  of  their  taskmasters;  for  I  know 
their  sorrows." 

Because  God  is  a  Spirit,  because  he  is  present  every- 
where, and  because  he  is  conscious  and  knows,  "they 
that  worship  him  must  worship  in  spirit  and  truth." 

In  his  conversation  with  the  woman  by  the  well, 
speaking  as  a  Jew  Jesus  said  to  her  as  a  Samaritan, 
"Ye  worship  that  which  ye  know  not:  we  worship 
that  which  we  know;  for  salvation  is  from  the  Jews." 
Thus  Jesus  confirmed  the  conception  of  God  which 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD  85 

the  Jews  had  acquired  by  experience  and  revelation. 
The  Jews  had  learned  the  holiness  of  God.  They  knew 
of  Isaiah's  vision  in  the  Temple  when  he  ''saw  the  Lord 
sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up;  and  his 
train  filled  the  Temple,"  and  he  cried  out,  "Woe  is 
me!  for  I  am  undone;  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean 
lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean 
lips:  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  Jehovah  of 
hosts." 

The  Tabernacle  and  the  Temple  had  taught  the 
Jews  the  hohness  of  God.  The  mercy  seat,  where 
God's  presence  was  manifested,  was  in  the  Holy  of 
Holies  which  the  high  priests  alone  could  enter,  and 
only  once  a  year.  Washings  and  cleansings  prescribed 
in  connection  with  the  services  of  the  Temple  pressed 
home  upon  the  minds  of  the  Jews  the  fact  that  God  is 
holy  and  demands  cleanness  of  heart;  he  cannot  toler- 
ate the  presence  of  sin. 

The  Jews  had  learned  also  the  righteousness  of  God. 
Their  fathers  had  felt  that  God's  reputation  among 
the  nations  depended  upon  the  safety  and  prosperity  of 
Jerusalem.  The  fall  of  their  capital  would  disgrace 
God  before  the  world,  they  argued  in  their  hearts,  and 
so  they  would  not  listen  to  the  prophets  who  warned 
them  of  the  doom  that  was  coming  upon  Jerusalem  as 
the  consequence  of  their  disobedience.  But  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem  came,  and  this  calamity  and  the  Exile 
taught  them  that  God  is  a  God  whose  commandments 
no  one  can  break  without  suffering  the  penalty. 
Prophets,  in '  his  name,  summoned  his  faithless  people 
into  court.  With  heaven  and  earth  as  witnesses,  their 
guilt  was  proved  and  the  penalty  of  disobedience  was 


86  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

enforced.  They  learned  that  God  would  vindicate  his 
righteousness. 

The  Old  Testament,  too,  had  taught  the  Jews  the 
love  of  God.  His  love  for  Israel  was  as  the  love  of  a 
husband  for  a  wife,  or  of  a  father  for  his  child.  And 
so  in  talking  with  the  woman  at  the  well  Jesus  called 
God  the  "Father." 

But  it  is  only  through  Christ  himself  that  the  love 
of  God  is  fully  revealed.  "For  God  so  loved  the  world, 
that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal 
life."  It  was  the  apostle  who  knew  Jesus,  who  said, 
"God  is  love";  and  it  was  Paul  who  knew  the  grace  of 
God  as  it  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  who  wrote,  "For  I  am 
persuaded,  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels, 
nor  principalities,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  powers,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of 
God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

All  this  is  summarized  in  the  answer  of  the  Shorter 
Catechism  to  the  question,  "What  is  God?"  "God  is 
a  Spirit,  infinite,  eternal,  and  unchangeable,  in  his  being, 
wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth." 

Our  conception  of  God  is  a  practical  matter,  for  our 
conception  of  God  affects  our  ideals  and  our  conduct. 
If  we  think  that  God  is  local,  and  lives  only  in  our 
town,  we  will  keep  his  commandments  when  we  are 
at  home  but  will  set  them  aside  when  we  are  away 
from  home,  where,  we  think,  God  does  not  dwell.  If 
we  think  that  God  is  ignorant  we  will  try  to  deceive 
him.  If  we  think  that  he  is  vain  we  will  try  to  flatter 
him.  If  we  think  that  he  is  not  righteous,  we  will  try 
to  evade  his  laws  and  strangle  conscience.    If  we  think 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD  87 

that  he  is  weak  we  will  attempt  to  thwart  his  purpose. 
If  we  think  that  he  is  changeable  we  will  have  no  stan- 
dard of  conduct,  and  will  waver  in  our  obedience.  If 
we  believe  that  he  is  not  conscious,  we  will  give  no 
thought  to  his  will.  But  if  God  is  to  us  a  Spirit,  con- 
scious, holy,  wise,  powerful,  loving,  and  unchanging,  we 
shall  worship  and  serve  him  everywhere  and  always, 
from  the  heart,  with  sincerity,  and  with  holy  fear  and 
love. 


CHAPTER  V 

JESUS  CHRIST 

We  cannot  pursue  far  the  study  of  the  character  of 
God  without  meeting  the  necessity  of  studying  also  the 
character  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  God  of  the  Christian 
is  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

If  we  read  the  first  verse  of  the  first  book  of  the 
Old  Testament  we  find  the  words,  ^'In  the  beginning 
God,"  but  in  the  first  verse  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  we  read 
*'In  the  beginning  was  the  Word."  The  Old  Testa- 
ment prophets  said  ^'Thus  saith  Jehovah,"  but  when 
Jesus  speaks  he  says,  ''I  say  unto  you;"  and  those  who 
heard  him  noted  that  he  spoke  "as  one  having  author- 
ity." 

The  Old  Testament  had  its  threefold  benediction: 

"Jehovah  bless  thee,  and  keep  thee: 
Jehovah  make  his  face  to  shine  upon  thee,  and  be 

gracious  unto  thee: 
Jehovah  lift  up  his  countenance  upon  thee,  and 
give  thee  peace." 

The  New  Testament  also  has  its  threefold  benediction : 
"The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Chrisfc,  and  the  love  of 
God,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  with 
you  all." 

The  Old  Testament  exalts  the  name  of  Jehovah: 
"Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  Jehovah  thy  God 
in  vain;  for  Jehovah  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that 
taketh  his  name  in  vain."    In  the  New  Testament  we 

88 


JESUS  CHRIST  89 

read  also  of  a  name,  but  it  is  the  name  of  Jesus:  "For 
neither  is  there  any  other  name  under  heaven,  that  is 
given  among  men,  wherein  we  must  be  saved,"  and, 
''That  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of 
things  in  heaven  and  things  on  earth  and  things  under 
the  earth,  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father." 

It  behooves  us  therefore  to  inquire,  ''Who  is  this 
Jesus  who  is  thus  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment so  closely  identified  with  Jehovah  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  w^hat  did  he  do?" 

As  we  read  what  the  New  Testament  has  to  say 
concerning  Jesus,  we  discover  that  Jesus  did  not  begin 
his  personal  existence  in  this  world.  In  a  sense  in 
which  it  can  be  said  of  no  other,  he  came  to  earth.  "In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God.  .  .  .  And  the  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt 
among  us." 

Jesus  himself  said  to  the  Jews,  "Your  father  Abra- 
ham rejoiced  to  see  my  day;  and  he  saw  it,  and  was 
glad."  But  his  critics  retorted,  "Thou  art  not  yet  fifty 
years  old,  and  hast  thou  seen  Abraham?"  Solemn  and 
of  profound  import  was  Jesus*  reply:  "Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  you.  Before  Abraham  was  born,  I  am." 
How  could  Jesus,  who  thus  spoke  to  the  Jews,  have 
existed  before  Abraham?  Abraham  lived  nearly  two 
thousand  years  before  the  birth  of  the  infant  Jesus, 
and  yet  Jesus  said,  "Before  Abraham  was  born,  I  am!" 
The  significance  of  these  words  is  indicated  by  Paul 
when  he  wrote  to  the  Philippians:  "Have  this  mind 
in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus:  who,  existing 
in  the  form  of  God,  counted  not  the  being  on  an  equal- 
ity with  God  a  thing  to  be  grasped,  but  emptied  him- 


90  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

self,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant,  being  made  in  the 
hkeness  of  men."  And  so  John  wrote  in  his  Gospel, 
''For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only- 
begotten  Son."  Jesus  himself  said,  "If  ye  had  known 
me,  ye  would  have  known  my  Father  also  ...  he 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." 

Jesus  existed  as  a  personality  in  the  beginning,  and 
this  eternal,  preexistent  Son  of  God  became  man. 
''The  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us."  Of 
Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  we  read:  "And  it  came  to 
pass,  while  they  were  there,  the  days  were  fulfilled 
that  she  should  be  delivered.  And  she  brought  forth 
her  firstborn  son."  So  truly  human  was  this  child  of 
Mary  that  members  of  his  own  family  did  not  suspect 
that  he  was  anything  more  than  man.  Only  after  the 
resurrection  did  they  believe  that  he  was  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God.  Jesus  possessed  a  true  human  body. 
He  was  weary,  so  he  sat  down  by  the  well;  he  was 
thirsty,  so  he  asked  for  a  drink.  He  knew  the  pangs 
of  hunger  and  the  anguish  of  pain.  Thousands  who  saw 
him  looked  upon  him  as  a  man;  it  was  only  spiritual 
vision  which  enabled  men  to  see  that  he  was  the  Son 
of  God.  Thus  the  eternal  Son  of  God  was  "found  in 
fashion  as  a  man." 

Jesus,  then,  was  one  person,  with  two  natures. 
The  same  person  who  called  God  "Father,"  called 
man  "brother."  The  same  person  who  said,  "I  thirst," 
also  said  to  the  waves  and  the  winds,  "Peace,  be  still." 
The  same  person  who  said,  "Give  me  to  drink,"  said 
also,  "Before  Abraham  was  born,  I  am."  Sometimes 
he  spoke  and  acted  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  sometimes 
as  the  Son  of  Man.  This  is  a  mystery,  but  only  by 
thinking  of  him  as  both  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of 


JESUS  CHRIST  91 

Man  can  we  explain  the  statements  of  Scripture 
concerning  him.  As  a  person  sometimes  uses  one  hand 
and  sometimes  the  other,  so  Jesus  Christ  sometimes 
acted  through  his  divine  nature  and  sometimes  through 
his  human  nature;  but  always  it  was  the  same  person- 
ality who  acted. 

Jesus  was  the  one  perfect  character  of  history.  He 
was  free  from  sin  and  possessed  all  the  virtues  of  true 
manhood.  When  his  opponents  would  not  receive  him 
but  sought  to  destroy  him,  he  told  them  that  they  would 
not  believe  him  because  he  spoke  the  truth.  Then  he 
gave  them  their  chance  to  prove  him  in  error.  "Which 
of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?  "  he  challenged.  Are  not 
these  words  a  twofold  proof  of  the  sinlessness  and  the 
perfection  of  Jesus?  If  he  had  been  guilty  of  any  out- 
ward act  of  sin,  his  enemies  would  have  been  only  too 
glad  to  have  convicted  him.  And  Jesus  himself  showed 
no  consciousness  of  any  sin,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he 
had  the  keenest  moral  sense  the  world  has  known. 
How  quick  he  was  to  detect  sin !  And  the  sin  which  he 
spoke  most  about  was  the  sin  of  the  heart.  His  moral 
sense  pierced  to  the  very  soul  and  searched  out  the 
secret  motive.  But  in  his  own  heart  he  discovered  no 
sin.  In  all  his  teaching  he  never  revealed  the  least  con- 
sciousness of  failure  to  do  the  will  of  his  Father.  Those 
who  saw  the  Word  who  had  been  made  flesh  "beheld 
his  glory,  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the  Father." 

Jesus'  perfect  life  and  character  was  an  essential 
part  of  his  ministry,  for  he  must  be  "without  blemish 
and  without  spot."  His  teaching  also  was  an  impor- 
tant part  of  his  ministry.  They  called  him  "Rabbi," 
or  teacher.  When  the  multitudes  gathered  about  him 
"he  opened  his  mouth  and  taught  them,"  and  "he 


92  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

taught  them  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  their 
scribes."  Jesus  is  the  world's  greatest  moral  and  reli- 
gious teacher.  In  nineteen  hundred  years  no  one  has 
approached  him  as  the  revealer  of  God  and  duty.  And 
so  when  Luke  wrote  his  introduction  to  The  Acts,  in 
referring  to  his  Gospel  he  said  that  he  had  written 
what  Jesus  "began  both  to  do  and  to  teach."  Jesus* 
teaching  was  essential  to  his  ministry. 

He  was  also  a  miracle  worker.  His  miracles  were 
not  wrought  for  their  own  sake;  they  were  signs. 
They  were  arguments  for  his  claims  and  illustrations 
of  his  saving  power.  They  were  parables  in  action 
corresponding  to  his  other  parables  in  words.  He 
healed  disease,  he  cast  out  devils,  he  controlled  the 
winds,  he  multiplied  the  loaves  and  fishes,  he  brought 
the  dead  back  to  life.  And  these  signs  were  recorded 
that  we  "may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God." 

Jesus  himself,  however,  laid  greatest  stress  upon  his 
death  as  an  essential  part  of  his  ministry.  The  Four 
Gospels  themselves  indicate  the  importance  of  his  death 
by  the  number  of  pages  they  give  to  the  account  of 
his  suffering  and  death.  Comparatively  early  in  his 
ministry  Jesus  began  to  teach  his  disciples  "that  the 
Son  of  Man  must  suffer  many  things,  and  be  rejected 
by  the  elders,  and  the  chief  priests,  and  the  scribes, 
and  be  killed."  He  said  to  the  Jews,  "When  ye  have 
lifted  up  the  Son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  am 
he."  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all  men  unto  myself.  But  this  he  said,  signifying  by 
what  manner  of  death  he  should  die."  The  cross, 
as  the  symbol  of  Jesus'  death,  is  the  heart  of  the  gospel. 
Paul  wrote  to  the  Corinthians,  "For  I  determined  not 


JESUS  CHRIST  93 

to  know  anything  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified." 

But  the  death  of  Christ,  without  his  resurrection, 
would  have  made  the  cross  a  failure.  The  cross  alone 
is  not  the  center  of  the  gospel,  but  the  cross  of  the 
risen  Christ.  To  the  disciples  therefore  ''he  also  showed 
himself  alive  after  his  passion  by  many  proofs,  appear- 
ing unto  them  by  the  space  of  forty  days,  and  speaking 
the  things  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God."  So  certain 
historically  was  the  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
that  Paul  was  ready  to  base  his  whole  faith  upon  this 
foundation  fact:  "If  Christ  hath  not  been  raised,  your 
faith  is  vain." 

Think  of  what  Paul's  certainty  of  the  fact  of  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  means!  Remember  that  he  had 
been  the  chief  persecutor  of  the  Church,  that  he  had 
given  his  life  to  the  destruction  of  the  Christian  faith. 
He  listened  to  the  arguments  between  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians, and  as  an  enemy  of  the  Christian  faith  he  was  in 
a  position  to  seek  out  every  argument  against  the  claims 
of  the  Christians.  He  was  associated  with  those  who 
had  put  Jesus  to  death.  He  could  gather  all  their  tes- 
timony against  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  He  could 
interview  witnesses  on  the  ground.  With  the  author- 
ities on  his  side  he  could  have  secured  permission  even 
to  open  the  tomb  and  search  for  the  body  of  Jesus. 
But,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  knew  all  the  arguments 
against  the  claim  that  Jesus  had  risen  from  the  dead, 
he  was  so  sure  that  Jesus  had  actually  risen  again 
that  he  was  ready  to  stake  the  Christian  faith  on  this 
one  fact.  In  triumph  he  declared,  without  the  least 
fear  of  reasonable  contradiction,  ''But  now  hath  Christ 
been  raised  from  the  dead." 


94  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

This  Jesus  who  died  and  rose  again,  after  forty  days 
ascended  into  heaven.  So  Stephen,  "being  full  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  looked  up  stedfastly  into  heaven,  and  saw 
the  glory  of  God,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand 
of  God."  The  Jesus  who  ascended  is  still  the  same 
person,  for  he  "is  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  yea 
and  for  ever." 

Jesus  is  not  a  dead  Saviour,  or  even  an  absent  Sav- 
iour. In  a  true  sense  this  living  Saviour  is  a  present 
Saviour.  Before  he  left  the  world  he  said  to  his  disci- 
ples, "Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world."  "Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock," 
he  told  John  to  write  to  the  church  of  Laodicea:  "if 
any  man  hear  my  voice  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come 
in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me." 
And  so  Paul's  prayer  for  the  Christians  of  Ephesus 
was  "that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  through 
faith." 

Jesus,  then,  is  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  who  became 
a  true  man,  lived  a  perfect  life,  taught  what  men  need 
to  know  about  God  and  truth  and  right  and  duty, 
wrought  his  mighty  works  as  signs,  died  upon  the 
cross  of  Calvary,  rose  again  on  the  third  day,  ascended 
to  the  right  hand  of  God,  but  is  also  truly  present  with 
all  those  who  believe  in  him. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  HOLY  SPIRIT 

Just  as  we  cannot  pursue  the  study  of  the  character 
of  God  without  being  brought  face  to  face  with  Jesus 
Christ,  so  we  find  that  we  cannot  pursue  the  study 
of  Christ  and  Christianity  without  facing  the  fact  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

When  Paul  came  to  Ephesus  and  found  there  certain 
disciples,  he  asked  them,  ''Did  ye  receive  the  Holy 
Spirit  when  ye  believed?"  He  was  amazed  to  discover 
that  these  supposed  disciples  did  not  know  anything 
about  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  had  been  baptized  with  the 
baptism  of  John  unto  repentance.  They  were  then  bap- 
tized in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  when  Paul  laid  his 
hands  upon  them  the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon  them. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Paul  should  have  asked  these 
disciples  about  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  both  New  Testament 
teaching  and  New  Testament  experience  give  a  prom- 
inent place  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  Jesus  charged  his 
disciples  not  to  ''depart  from  Jerusalem,  but  to  wait 
for  the  promise  of  the  Father,  which,  said  he,  ye  heard 
from  me:  for  John  indeed  baptized  with  water;  but 
ye  shall  be  baptized  in  the  Holy  Spirit  not  many 
days  hence."  On  the  Day  of  Pentecost  this  promise 
was  fulfilled  and  "they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit."  If  Paul  questioned  the  disciples  in  Ephesus 
concerning  the  Holy  Spirit  because  Jesus  himself  had 
emphasized  the  importance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
because  the  experience  of  the  Church  taught  the  impor- 

95 


96  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

tance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  every  Christian  should  know 
something  of  what  the  Scriptures  have  to  say  about 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  Scriptures,  in  the  first  place,  make  plain  the 
fact  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  person.  The  Holy  Spirit 
is  not  to  be  called  "it"  as  if  the  Holy  Spirit  were  an 
impersonal  force  or  an  influence.  Jesus  said,  "When 
he,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  he  shall  guide  you  into 
all  the  truth."  The  fact  that  in  Greek  the  word  "  spirit " 
is  a  neuter  noun  while  the  pronoun  used  here  is  mascu- 
line, makes  clear  the  emphasis  which  Jesus  lays  upon 
the  personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

And  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  Jesus  speaks  of  as  "he," 
is  just  as  truly  God  as  the  Son  is  God,  so  in  Christian 
faith  we  have  the  Holy  Trinity:  God  the  Father, 
God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  have, 
parallel  to  the  threefold  Old  Testament  benediction, 
the  threefold  New  Testament  benediction,  "The  grace 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  [the  Son],  and  the  love  of 
God  [the  Father],  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  be  with  you  all." 

The  fact  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  divine  Person  is 
shown  by  such  a  statement  as  Paul  made  in  his  letter 
to  the  Corinthians:  "For  the  Spirit  searcheth  all  things, 
yea,  the  deep  things  of  God.  For  who  among  men 
knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  the  man, 
which  is  in  him?  even  so  the  things  of  God  none  know- 
eth, save  the  Spirit  of  God."  The  Holy  Spirit,  therefore, 
is  as  truly  God  as  a  man's  own  spirit  is  himself. 

What  we  have  been  considering  brings  us  face  to 
face  with  one  of  the  great  mysteries  of  God's  revelation 
of  himself  to  men.  We  know  that  God  is  an  infinite 
Spirit,  all-wise,  all-powerful,  all-loving,  and  ever-present. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  97 

We  have  found,  too,  that  God  is  in  Christ,  so  that 
Jesus  said,  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father.'' 
And  Christians  know  that  God  has  worked  in  their 
hearts,  and  this  work,  as  we  shall  see,  is  referred  to 
especially  as  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  So  we  have 
God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Spirit. 
These  are  the  facts  of  God's  revelation  of  himself  in  the 
Scriptures  and  in  human  experience.  Christians  there- 
fore speak  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  or  the  Triune  God,  or 
the  Three-in-One.  But  when  it  comes  to  trying  to 
think  or  speak  clearly  of  the  Trinity,  serious  difficulty 
arises.  What  word  shall  we  find  to  express  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Spirit?  For  we  must  still  hold  fast  to  the  great  Old 
Testament  truth  which  Jesus  himself  taught  when  he 
said,  ''Hear,  0  Israel;  The  Lord  our  God,  the  Lord  is 
one."  For  centuries  the  word  "person"  has  been  used 
to  express  this  distinction  in  the  One  God  between  the 
Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  because  there 
seemed  to  be  no  better  word  to  use  for  this  purpose. 

The  three  Persons  of  the  Trinity  are  not,  however, 
three  persons  in  the  sense  in  which  three  people  are 
three  persons,  for  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity  are 
one  God;  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
are  one  in  substance.  Yet  the  Son  spoke  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  the  Father  out  of  heaven  said 
"This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased." 
It  is  clear,  then,  that  we  should  think  of  God  the  Father, 
and  of  God  the  Son,  and  of  God  the  Holy  Spirit,  but 
that  we  should  think  of  them  as  constituting  truly 
one  God.  When  the  Father,  or  the  Son,  or  the  Holy 
Spirit  acts,  it  is  God  acting. 

As  we  read  the  Scriptures  we  find  that  the  Holy 
7 


98  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

Spirit  is  referred  to  in  many  connections.  He  was 
active  in  Creation,  for  "the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon 
the  face  of  the  waters."  To  the  Holy  Spirit  man  owes 
his  intelligence  and  skill.  Concerning  Bezalel,  who  was 
to  take  a  leading  part  in  making  the  tabernacle  and 
its  equipment,  God  said,  ''I  have  filled  him  with  the 
Spirit  of  God,  in  wisdom,  and  in  understanding,  and 
in  knowledge,  and  in  all  manner  of  workmanship,  to 
devise  skilful  works,  to  work  in  gold,  and  in  silver,  and 
in  brass,  and  in  cutting  of  stones  for  setting,  and  in 
carving  of  wood,  to  work  in  all  manner  of  workmanship." 
The  great  inventor  owes  his  genius  to  the  endowment 
which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  given  him. 

To  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  we  owe  also  our  moral 
nature.  Conscience  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
At  the  time  of  the  Flood,  God  said,  "My  Spirit  shall 
not  strive  with  man  for  ever."  When  the  Spirit  of  God 
ceases  to  strive  with  man,  his  moral  sense  is  lost,  and 
he  becomes  the  creature  Paul  describes  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans:  "Wherefore  God  gave  them  up  in 
the  lusts  of  their  hearts  unto  uncleanness."  Is  not  this 
why  the  psalmist,  conscious  of  his  sin  which  had  been 
committed  in  spite  of  the  persuasion  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  his  heart,  cried  out  in  penitent  fear, 

"Cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence; 
And  take  not  thy  holy  Spirit  from  me." 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  preeminently  our  Teacher.  Jesus 
called  him  the  "Spirit  of  truth,"  and  said,  "But  the 
Comforter,  even  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  Father  will 
send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and 
bring  to  your  remembrance  all  that  I  said  unto  you." 

Not  only  is  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Teacher  who  illumi- 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  99 

nates  the  mind  so  that  we  may  understand  spiritual 
truth;  he  also  opens  the  heart  to  receive  the  truth. 
When  Paul  preached  by  the  river  in  Philippi,  Lydia 
of  Thyatira  heard  the  apostle  and  her  "heart  the 
Lord  opened  to  give  heed  unto  the  things  which  were 
spoken  by  Paul."  This  was  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  human  heart  is  not  ready  for  the  truth  until  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  done  his  work  in  the  heart,  for  ''the 
natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of 
God:  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him;  and  he  cannot 
know   them,    because    they    are    spiritually   judged." 

Faith  also  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  His  work 
is  to  ''convict  the  world  in  respect  of  sin,  and  of  right- 
eousness, and  of  judgment."  The  new  birth  is  also 
his  work,  for  "that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh; 

and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit 

Ye  must  be  born  anew.  The  wind  bloweth  where  it 
will,  and  thou  hearest  the  voice  thereof,  but  knowest 
not  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth:  so  is 
every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit." 

It  is  the  Holy  Spirit  who  transforms  our  characters. 
"And  be  not  fashioned  according  to  this  world:  but 
be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind, 
that  ye  may  prove  what  is  the  good  and  acceptable  and 
perfect  will  of  God."  This  change  which  is  wrought 
in  those  who  beheve  is  "the  washing  of  regeneration 
and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  also  the  source  of  power  for  service. 
Jesus  charged  the  disciples  "not  to  depart  from  Jeru- 
salem, but  to  wait  for  the  promise  of  the  Father." 
Then  they  would  "be  baptized  in  the  Holy  Spirit." 
He  said,  "But  ye  shall  receive  power,  when  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  come  upon  you :   and  ye  shall  be  my  witnesses." 


100  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

When  the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon  the  disciples  on  the 
Day  of  Pentecost,  they  ''began  to  speak  ...  as 
the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance." 

Now  we  can  see  why  our  attitude  toward  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  of  supreme  importance.  If  we  owe  to  him 
our  intelligence  and  our  conscience,  if  he  must  teach  us 
the  truth  we  need  to  know  and  open  our  hearts  to  re- 
ceive this  truth,  if  he  gives  us  the  new  birth  and  trans- 
forms our  characters  and  gives  us  power  for  service, 
what  hope  of  salvation  have  we  if  we  rebel  against 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  deliberately  thrust  him  out  of  our 
hearts?  No  wonder  Jesus  said,  ''Whosoever  shall  speak 
against  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him, 
neither  in  this  world,  nor  in  that  which  is  to  come." 
In  sinning  against  the  Holy  Spirit  we  resist  him  whose 
work  it  is  to  convince  us  of  our  sin,  enUghten  our  minds 
in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  renew  our  wills,  and  "per- 
suade and  enable  us  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  freely 
offered  to  us  in  the  gospel." 


CHAPTER  VII 

SIN 

We  cannot  give  Christian  truth  serious  consideration 
without  facing  the  great  fact  of  sin.  The  message  of 
Christianity  is  distinctively  the  message  of  the  gospel. 
The  word  '^ gospel"  means  good  news,  and  this  good 
news  is  the  good  news  of  salvation  from  sin.  Chris- 
tianity, therefore,  must  face  the  fact  of  sin.  Even  the 
name  of  Jesus  reminds  of  the  fact  of  sin,  for  the  angel 
said  to  Joseph  concerning  Mary,  "And  she  shall  bring 
forth  a  son;  and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus;  for  it 
is  he  that  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins." 

We  cannot  read  the  Word  of  God  without  being 
impressed  by  the  great  fact  of  sin.  It  intrudes  itself 
into  the  garden  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Bible's 
story  and  drives  man  from  Paradise.  Old  Testament 
Tabernacle  and  Temple  rites  and  ceremonies  empha- 
sized the  fact  of  sin  and  the  need  of  cleansing.  The 
burden  of  the  messages  of  the  prophets  was  sin.  In 
the  psalms  we  hear  the  cry  of  hearts  conscious  of  sin. 
In  Old  Testament  history  we  see  the  record  of  sin  and 
its  consequences.  Nehemiah  understood  the  meaning 
of  Israel's  history  when  he  prayed  in  exile,  "I  confess 
the  sins  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  we  have  sinned 
against  thee."  The  fact  of  sin,  emphasized  in  human 
experience,  we  must  face. 

When  we  examine  the  words  of  the  Bible  which  are 
translated  "sin, "we  find  that  there  are  a  number  of 

101 


102  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

these  words  and  that  they  have  different  shades  of 
meaning.  Some  of  them  carry  the  idea  of  failure  or 
missing  the  mark,  indicating  that  sin  is  the  failure  to 
measure  up  to  God's  standard  for  us.  Other  words  have 
the  meaning  of  bending,  twisting,  or  crookedness,  indicat- 
ing that  sin  is  turning  or  breaking  away  from  the  straight 
path  God  has  made  for  us  to  walk  in.  Other  words 
have  the  meaning  of  rebellion,  indicating  that  sin  is 
rebellion  against  God,  a  wrong  attitude  in  the  heart.  So 
the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism  defines  sin  as  "any 
want  of  conformity  unto,  or  transgression  of,  the  law 
of  God." 

We  can  have  shadows  only  because  there  is  light.  If 
God  were  not  righteous,  there  could  be  no  fact  of  sin, 
any  more  than  there  could  be  crime  in  a  country  that 
had  no  laws,  or  shame  among  a  people  who  had  no 
standards  of  conduct.  So  sin  is  sin  because  God  is  God. 
Because  there  is  a  moral  Ruler  of  the  universe,  there  is 
the  fact  of  sin  in  the  world. 

Acts  may  be  sinful  because  God  is  holy  and  God  sees. 
Words  may  be  sinful  because  God  is  holy  and  God 
hears.  Thoughts  may  be  sinful  because  God  is  holy 
and  God  is  a  Spirit  who  knows  our  minds.  What  we 
leave  undone  may  be  sin  because  God  is  perfect. 

Failure  to  do  our  full  duty  is  just  as  truly  sin  as 
doing  what  is  wrong.  Omission  is  as  truly  sin  as  com- 
mission. In  jthe  parable  of  the  Judgment  Jesus  repre- 
sents the  King  as  saying,  "Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not 
unto  one  of  these  least,  ye  did  it  not  unto  me."  He 
that  is  without  sin,  therefore,  must  be  perfect  in  thought, 
in  speech,  and  in  conduct;  not  merely  free  from  every 
fault,  but  possessing  every  virtue.  No  mere  man 
meets    these    requirements.      John    therefore    wrote, 


SIN  103 

''If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves, 
and  the  truth  is  not  in  us." 

There  are  three  great  facts  about  sin  which  we 
must  consider.  The  first  fact  is  that  sin  stains  the 
soul  with  guilt.  One  of  the  most  wonderful  studies  in 
sin  in  all  the  Scriptures  is  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve 
in  the  garden.  After  they  had  sinned  they  hid  them- 
selves from  the  presence  of  Jehovah.  Why?  Let  Adam 
answer  :  ''I  heard  thy  voice  in  the  garden,  and  I  was 
afraid  .  .  .  and  I  hid  myself."  But  why  did  he 
hide?  Because  his  sin  had  left  something  in  his  heart, 
the  consciousness  of  guilt  that  brought  shame  and  fear. 
When  Cain  had  slain  his  brother  Abel  and  tried  to  hide 
his  crime  and  evade  his  responsibility,  God  said,  ''The 
voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the 
ground."  When  Joseph's  brothers  came  down  to 
Egypt  to  buy  corn  and  found  themselves  in  difficulty, 
they  said  one  to  another,  "We  are  verily  guilty  con- 
cerning our  brother."  The  guilt  of  their  sin  was  still 
upon  them,  and  they  knew  it.  Saul  who  kept  the  best 
of  the  flocks  for  himself  instead  of  devoting  them  to 
God  as  he  had  been  commanded,  tried  to  hide  his 
disobedience;  but  the  prophet  replied,  "What  meaneth 
then  this  bleating  of  the  sheep  in  mine  ears,  and  the 
lowing  of  the  oxen  which  I  hear? "  Saul's  guilt  could 
not  be  hidden.  When  David  brought  about  the  death 
of  Uriah  in  order  that  he  might  take  Bathsheba  his  wife, 
he  could  not  hide  his  guilt,  for  the  prophet  Nathan, 
pointing  the  finger  of  accusation,  declared,  "Thou  art 
the  man";  and  David  cried,  "I  have  sinned  against 
Jehovah." 

Secular  literature  also  proclaims  the  fact  that  the 
guilt  of  sin  clings  to  the  sinner.    Shakspere's  "  Macbeth  " 


104  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

is  a  study  in  guilt  and  conscience.  Macbeth  and  his 
wife  had  slain  Banquo.  Their  crime  was  hidden,  but 
they  could  not  rid  themselves  of  the  sense  of  guilt. 
The  dramatist  makes  Macbeth  cry  out:  ''Will  all 
great  Neptune's  ocean  wash  this  blood  clean  from  my 
hand?  No;  this  my  hand  will  rather  the  multitu- 
dinous seas  incarnadine,  making  the  green  one  red." 
And  Lady  Macbeth,  walking  in  her  troubled  sleep, 
exclaims,  ''What,  will  these  hands  ne'er  be  clean? 
Here's  the  smell  of  the  blood  still:  all  the  perfumes  of 
Arabia  will  not  sweeten  this  little  hand."  Sin  brings 
upon  the  soul  a  stain  of  guilt  that  no  human  effort  can 
remove. 

Sin,  however,  brings  more  than  guilt  upon  the  soul; 
sin  becomes  a  force  in  the  life.  It  is  like  a  disease 
germ,  injected  into  the  blood,  that  multipHes  until  it 
holds  the  body  in  its  terrible  grip.  James  wrote  in 
his  Epistle:  "But  each  man  is  tempted,  when  he  is 
drawn  away  by  his  own  lust,  and  enticed.  Then  the 
lust,  when  it  hath  conceived,  beareth  sin :  and  the  sin, 
when  it  is  fullgrown,  bringeth  forth  death." 

Sin  permitted  to  enter  the  heart  strengthens  its 
hold  upon  the  character  until  its  chains  of  habit  cannot 
be  broken.  The  rich  young  ruler,  so  eager  to  know 
the  way  of  life  and  walk  in  it,  "went  away  sorrowful; 
for  he  was  one  that  had  great  possessions."  His  desire 
for  riches,  indulged,  so  gripped  his  soul  that  he  could 
not  shake  it  off  even  though  he  desired  life  eternal. 

Paul  speaks  of  sin  as  a  force  in  one's  life.  "I  see  a 
different  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law 
of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  under  the 
law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members.  Wretched  man 
that  I  am!" 


SIN  105 

The  more  any  sin  is  indulged,  the  stronger  its  power 
becomes.  When  we  let  sin  into  the  heart,  it  feeds 
upon  its  own  indulgence  and  grows  into  an  overpower- 
ing evil  force. 

Sin,  which  leaves  its  stain  of  guilt  and  becomes  an 
increasing  evil  force  in  the  life,  is  seen  in  all  its  awful- 
ness  when  we  realize  its  consequences.  This  third  fact, 
the  consequences  of  sin,  is  emphasized  in  the  Scriptures. 
When  Adam  sinned  in  the  garden  and  felt  the  guilt 
of  sin,  he  heard  the  words  of  condemnation  which  told 
him  of  the  consequences  of  sin:  "Because  thou  hast 
hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten 
of  the  tree,  of  which  I  commanded  thee,  saying,  Thou 
shalt  not  eat  of  it:  cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake; 
in  toil  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life ;  thorns 
also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee;  and  thou 
shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field;  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground; 
for  out  of  it  was  tthou  taken :  for  dust  thou  art,  and  unto 
dust  shalt  thou  return."  To  guilty  Cain,  God  said, 
"When  thou  tillest  the  ground,  it  shall  not  henceforth 
yield  unto  thee  its  strength;  a  fugitive  and  a  wanderer 
shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth."  To  the  guilty  brothers 
of  Joseph,  Reuben  said,  "Spake  I  not  unto  you  saying. 
Do  not  sin  against  the  child ;  and  ye  would  not  hear? 
therefore  also,  behold,  his  blood  is  required."  To  guilty 
Saul,  to  whose  sin  the  bleating  sheep  and  the  lowing 
cattle  bore  witness,  the  prophet  said,  "Because  thou 
hast  rejected  the  word  of  Jehovah,  he  hath  also  rejected 
thee  from  being  king."  To  David,  to  whom  the 
prophet  said,  "Thou  art  the  man!"  he  said  also,  in 
God's  name,  "Now  therefore  the  sword  shall  never 
depart  from  thy  house,  because  thou  hast  despised 


106  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

me,  and  hast  taken  the  wife  of  Uriah  the  Hittite  to 
be  thy  wife." 

Sin  is  a  force  that  brings  ruin,  "for  the  wages  of  sin 
is  death."  Sin  itself  is  its  own  punishment.  This  fact 
is  suggested  in  the  Epistle  of  James  when  he  is  teUing 
the  rich  of  the  consequences  of  their  sinful  selfishness: 
"Come  now,  ye  rich,  weep  and  howl  for  your  miseries 
that  are  coming  upon  you.  Your  riches  are  corrupted, 
and  your  garments  are  moth-eaten.  Your  gold  and  your 
silver  are  rusted;  and  their  rust  shall  be  for  a  testi- 
mony against  you  and  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  fire."  Sin 
is  its  own  witness  against  the  sinner,  and  its  own 
punishment. 

The  man  who  has  become  the  victim  of  alcohol  needs 
no  other  punishment  than  his  own  indulgence.  All 
that  is  necessary  is  to  deprive  him  of  that  for  which 
he  has  created  an  appetite  by  his  indulgence,  and  he 
is  in  torment.  The  man  who  has  yielded  continuously 
to  the  enticement  of  a  drug  suffers  the  penalty  of  his 
weakness  when  he  is  deprived  of  the  drug  for  which 
by  his  indulgence  he  has  developed  an  appetite.  The 
more  one  indulges,  the  greater  becomes  the  desire  and 
the  less  the  power  of  the  thing  indulged  in  to  satisfy. 
This  is  the  story  of  sin.  Every  indulgence  in  sin  in- 
creases the  desire  of  the  sinner  and  decreases  the  sat- 
isfaction which  the  sin  brings.  Thus  sin  creates  its 
own  torment  when  the  sinner  is  deprived  of  the  possi- 
bility of  indulging  in  it.  He  becomes  like  the  man 
described  in  Virgil,  who  is  consumed  by  thirst  as  he 
sits  chin  deep  in  the  river,  and  as  he  endeavors  to  lower 
his  lips  to  the  water  it  recedes,  leaving  him  ever  thirst- 
ing and  yet  unable  to  drink.  Everything  which  God 
forbids  possesses  this  character.     For  a  time  it  may 


SIN  107 

please  and  give  pleasure,  but  at  the  bottom  of  the  cup 
of  indulgence  will  be  found  the  bitter  dregs  of  sin's  own 
making. 

Jesus  is  known  as  the  most  tender-hearted  man  who 
ever  spoke  the  truth  to  men.  He  is  called  ''the  gentle 
Jesus."  But  this  most  tender-hearted  and  gentle 
Teacher,  who  was  moved  with  compassion  by  the 
suffering  of  men,  taught  in  the  strongest  terms  the  awful 
consquences  of  sin.  So  terrible  is  sin,  Jesus  taught, 
that  nothing  can  possibly  be  worth  while  which  will  lead 
us  into  sin.  ''And  if  thy  hand  cause  thee  to  stumble, 
cut  it  off :  it  is  good  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  maimed, 
rather  than  having  thy  two  hands  to  go  into  hell,  into 
the  unquenchable  fire.  And  if  thy  foot  cause  thee  to 
stumble,  cut  it  off:  it  is  good  for  thee  to  enter  into  life 
halt,  rather  than  having  thy  two  feet  to  be  cast  into 
hell.  And  if  thine  eye  cause  thee  to  stumble,  cast  it  out: 
it  is  good  for  thee  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  with 
one  eye,  rather  than  having  two  eyes  to  be  cast  into 
hell;  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched." 

Sin  brings  guilt  that  man  cannot  eradicate.  Sin  is  a 
force  in  the  life  that  man  cannot  overcome.  Sin  brings 
death  from  which  man  can  provide  no  way  of  escape, 
and  "if  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves, 
and  the  truth  is  not  in  us.  .  .  .  If  we  say  that  we 
have  not  sinned,  we  make  him  a  liar,  and  his  word  is 
not  in  us."  "For  all  have  sinned,  and  fall  short  of  the 
glory  of  God."  "Wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall 
deliver  me  out  of  the  body  of  this  death?" 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SALVATION 

Christianity  has  an  adequate  answer  to  the  sinner's 
cry,  *^ Wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me 
out  of  the  body  of  this  death?"  The  gospel  of  Christ 
is  the  message  of  salvation  from  sin.  Of  this  message 
Paul  declared  that  he  could  never  be  ashamed,  ''for  it 
is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation/' 

The  salvation  from  sin  which  the  gospel  offers,  how- 
ever, is  not  a  salvation  that  comes  through  some  pre- 
scription, or  routine,  or  ceremony;  the  salvation  which 
the  gospel  offers  is  through  a  Person.  The  word  to 
Joseph  concerning  Mary  his  espoused  wife  was,  "And 
she  shall  bring  forth  a  son ;  and  thou  shalt  call  his  name 
Jesus;  for  it  is  he  that  shall  save  his  people  from  their 
sins."  Paul's  own  answer  to  his  despairing  cry  as  a 
sinner,  ''Who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body  of  this 
death?"  was,  "I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  The  apostles  declared  to  the  council,  "And 
in  none  other  is  there  salvation:  for  neither  is  there 
any  other  name  under  heaven,  that  is  given  among  men, 
wherein  we  must  be  saved." 

Jesus  himself  emphasized  the  fact  that  salvation  is 
to  be  found  in  personal  relation  to  him,  for  he  said: 
"Ye  search  the  scriptures,  because  ye  think  that  in 
them  ye  have  eternal  life;  and  these  are  they  which 
bear  witness  of  me;  and  ye  will  not  come  to  me,  that 
ye  may  have  life."  "He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the 
life,"   wrote  the   Apostle  John.     Paul  declared  that 

108 


SALVATION  109 

"the  gospel  of  God"  is  ''concerning  his  Son,"  and  of 
this  gospel  he  was  not  ashamed  ''because  it  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  belie veth." 
Salvation  is  to  be  found  through  a  Saviour,  and  that 
Saviour  is  Jesus  Christ. 

If  Jesus  is  the  Remedy  for  sin,  he  must  provide 
cleansing  from  sin's  guilt,  deliverance  from  sin's  power, 
and  escape  from  sin's  eternal  consequences.  This  three- 
fold salvation  from  sin  is  just  what  Jesus  does  provide 
as  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Jesus  removes  the  guilt  of  sin.  The  Old  Testament 
sacrifices  impressed  upon  the  Hebrews  the  fact  of  the 
guilt  of  the  sinner.  It  was  necessary  to  be  cleansed 
from  the  stain  of  sin.  The  sprinkling  with  water  and 
the  sprinkling  with  blood  alike  proclaimed  the  need  of 
cleansing  if  man  is  to  have  approach  to  a  holy  God. 
The  Jews  associated  the  shed  blood  with  the  removal 
of  guilt.  In  view  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Jewish  religion,  the  meaning  of  John  is  plain  when  he 
pointed  his  disciples  to  Jesus,  and  said,  "Behold,  the 
Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world!" 
Jesus  was  God's  sacrifice  to  remove  the  guilt  of  sin. 

The  ancient  prophet,  centuries  before  Christ  came, 
wrote :  "Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried 
our  sorrows;  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten 
of  God,  and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities;  the 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him;  and  with  his 
stripes  we  are  healed.  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone 
astray;  we  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way;  and 
Jehovah  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all." 
When  the  centuries  had  passed  and  Jesus  would  impress 
upon  his  disciples  one  last  great  lesson,  as  they  sat  about 


no  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

the  table  where  the  passover  had  been  celebrated  with 
the  slain  lamb,  '^he  took  bread,  and  blessed,  and  brake 
it;  and  he  gave  it  to  the  disciples,  and  said.  Take,  eat; 
this  is  my  body.  And  he  took  a  cup,  and  gave  thanks, 
and  gave  to  them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it;  for  this  is 
my  blood  of  the  covenant,  which  is  poured  out  for  many 
unto  remission  of  sins." 

Afterwards  one  who  had  sat  beside  Jesus  that  night, 
wrote:  ''But  if  we  walk  in  the  light,  as  he  is  in  the 
light,  we  have  fellowship  one  with  another,  and  the 
blood  of  Jesus  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.  .  .  . 
If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  righteous  to 
forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unright- 
eousness." 

Thus  our  guilt  is  removed  by  Christ,  and  ''being 
therefore  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  "There  is  therefore 
now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ 
Jesus."  And  Peter  wrote,  "Christ  also  suffered  for 
you,  .  .  .  who  his  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  his  body 
upon  the  tree,  that  we,  having  died  unto  sins,  might 
live  unto  righteousness;  by  whose  stripes  ye  were 
healed."  The  debt  of  sin  has  been  paid  and  the  guilt 
removed. 

But  the  remedy  for  sin  must  do  more  than  remove 
sin's  guilt.  It  must  also  overcome  sin's  power,  for  sin 
is  a  force.  In  our  day  there  is  widespread  use  of  anti- 
toxins. The  antitoxin,  introduced  into  the  blood,  de- 
stroys the  disease  germ  in  the  blood  and  conquers  the 
disease.  Jesus  is  the  antitoxin  for  sin,  and  the  infusion 
of  his  life  into  us  begins  the  process  which  will  result 
in  the  eradication  of  sin.  The  gospel  is  a  "power."  It 
brings  to  us  a  great  force  to  work  in  us,  and  that  force 


SALVATION  111 

is  Christ.  So  Paul  wrote,  ''  It  is  no  longer  I  that  live, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  "The  sting  of  death  is  sin; 
and  the  power  of  sin  is  the  law :  but  thanks  be  to  God, 
who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  Sin  is  a  disease  of  the  soul  of  which  Jesus  is 
the  cure. 

Christ  imparts  a  new  nature  to  the  believer  so  that 
''if  Christ  is  in  you,  the  body  is  dead  because  of  sin; 
but  the  spirit  is  life  because  of  righteousness.  But  if 
the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead 
dwelleth  in  you,  he  that  raised  up  Christ  Jesus  from 
the  dead  shall  give  life  also  to  your  mortal  bodies 
through  his  Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you." 

The  infusion  of  new  life  by  Christ  to  counteract  the 
power  of  sin  does  not  mean  instant  sinlessness,  how- 
ever. In  the  oft-quoted  words,  ''Whosoever  is  begot- 
ten of  God  doeth  no  sin,  because  his  seed  abideth  in  him : 
and  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is  begotten  of  God," 
*' doeth  no  sin"  means  "does  not  keep  sinning,"  and 
"he  cannot  sin"  means  "he  cannot  keep  sinning." 
The  antitoxin  is  working.  There  may  be  single  acts  of 
sin,  but  persistence  in  sin  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  As 
the  Catechism  puts  it,  "  Sanctification  is  the  work  of 
God's  free  grace,  whereby  we  are  renewed  in  the  whole 
man  after  the  image  of  God,  and  are  enabled  more  and 
more  to  die  unto  sin,  and  live  unto  righteousness." 
Christ  provides  in  himself  a  remedy  for  sin  because  his 
life  in  us  becomes  a  power  greater  than  the  power  of 
sin.  "Thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Sin  not  only  brings  guilt  upon  the  sinner  and  infuses 
a  destroying  spiritual  poison  into  the  soul ;  it  brings  its 
terrible  penalty.    "The  wages  of  sin  is  death."    To  be 


112  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

the  all-sufficient  Saviour,  Jesus  must  be  able  to  deliver 
us  from  sin's  penalty.  This  he  does.  ''The  wages  of 
sin  is  death;  but  the  free  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  ''There  is  therefore  now 
no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus." 
"Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  heareth  my 
word,  and  believeth  him  that  sent  me,  hath  eternal  life, 
and  cometh  not  into  judgment,  but  hath  passed  out 
of  death  into  life." 

How  then  shall  we  avail  ourselves  of  this  threefold 
salvation  from  the  threefold  curse  of  sin?  The  Scrip- 
tures declare  that  we  are  to  be  saved  "by  faith.'* 
"For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life." 

But  what  is  meant  in  the  Scriptures  by  this  faith 
that  saves?  In  his  Gospel,  John  suggests  the  answer 
to  this  question  by  making  "believe"  and  "receive" 
synonymous.  "But  as  many  as  received  him,  .  .  . 
even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name."  Perhaps  this 
verse  was  in  the  minds  of  the  framers  of  the  Shorter 
Catechism  when  they  answered  the  question,  "What 
is  faith  in  Jesus  Christ?"  by  the  statement,  "Faith  in 
Jesus  Christ  is  a  saving  grace,  whereby  we  receive  and 
rest  upon  him  alone  for  salvation,  as  he  is  offered  to  us 
in  the  gospel." 

John  G.  Paton,  the  famous  missionary  to  the  New 
Hebrides,  told  of  his  efforts  to  translate  the  Bible  into 
the  language  of  the  natives  among  whom  he  labored. 
When  he  came  to  the  all-important  word  "faith,"  he 
did  not  know  how  to  translate  it,  so  he  called  in  one  of 
the  natives  to  help  him  find  the  desired  word.  The 
missionary  leaned  against  a  chair  and  asked  the  native, 


SALVATION  113 

*'What  am  I  doing?"  The  native  gave  him  the  word 
for  ''lean."  But  this  word  did  not  answer  the  purpose. 
Then  Dr.  Paton  sat  upon  the  chair  and  again  asked  the 
native  what  he  was  doing.  The  native  gave  him  the 
word  meaning  ''to  sit,"  but  still  the  translator  was  not 
satisfied.  He  leaned  back  in  the  chair,  put  his  feet  upon 
the  rungs  and  threw  his  whole  weight  upon  the  chair. 
Then  he  asked  the  native  what  he  was  doing.  The 
answer  was  the  word  he  would  use  to  translate  the 
English  word  "faith."  Faith  is  the  act  of  resting  fully 
upon  Christ  alone  for  salvation. 

Of  course  knowledge  is  necessary  for  faith.  We  can- 
not believe  in  Christ  as  our  Saviour  from  sin  unless  we 
have  learned  of  him.  "How  shall  they  believe  in  him 
whom  they  have  not  heard?  and  how  shall  they  hear 
without  a  preacher?"  Jesus  commanded  his  disciples 
to  go  into  all  the  world  and  teach  all  nations.  Faith 
in  Christ  is  possible  only  through  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  which  the  gospel  brings.  The  first  step  in  faith 
is  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

Faith  in  Christ,  however,  is  more  than  knowing  and 
understanding  what  is  taught  about  Christ.  Faith  in 
Christ  is  also  a  persuasion  that  what  is  taught  and  under- 
stood about  him  is  really  true.  We  may  imagine  our- 
selves sitting  in  a  theater,  witnessing  a  performance. 
An  actor  comes  upon  the  stage  and  cries,  "Fire!"  We 
understand  the  meaning  of  that  word.  But  it  will 
make  a  great  difference  whether  we  think  that  what 
the  man  says  is  a  part  of  the  drama  we  are  witnessing 
or  is  the  announcement  of  a  fact  to  the  audience.  If 
we  take  it  as  a  part  of  the  drama,  we  will  sit  still  and 
see  the  performance  through.  But  if  we  are  persuaded 
that  the  man  is  announcing  a  fact  and  that  the  house 
8 


114  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

is  actually  on  fire,  we  will  rise  from  our  seats  and  rush 
to  safety.  So  it  is  possible  to  know  all  that  the  Bible 
says  is  true  about  Jesus,  and  still  not  have  faith.  We 
have  faith  when  what  we  have  learned  is  accepted  as 
truth  and  becomes  a  reality  to  us. 

Real  faith,  therefore,  will  lead  to  action.  Saving  faith 
is  an  act.  If  we  wish  to  go  from  this  country  to  Europe 
we  know  that  we  must  cross  the  ocean  on  a  vessel. 
Suppose  we  should  go  to  New  York  and  down'  to  the 
pier.  We  look  up  at  the  great  ship.  "Surely,"  we  say 
to  ourselves,  ''that  great  ship  can  take  us  across  the 
Atlantic  in  safety."  But  to  convince  ourselves,  we  make 
inquiry.  We  learn  that  the  ship  has  been  built  by  a 
famous  shipbuilding  concern  and  inspected  by  the  Gov- 
ernment and  declared  trustworthy.  We  learn  that  its 
engines  were  put  in  by  the  best  marine  engine  manu- 
facturer in  the  land.  We  interview  the  captain  and 
crew,  and  learn  that  they  are  intelligent  and  experienced. 
We  examine  the  records  and  learn  that  this  ship  has 
already  made  dozens  of  trips  across  the  Atlantic, 
through  clear  weather  and  fog,  through  calm  and  storm? 
and  has  come  through  without  a  single  mishap.  We 
are  persuaded  that  this  ship  will  take  us  across  the  ocean. 
But  if  we  stand  upon  the  pier  and  let  the  ship  pull  out, 
we  shall  never  reach  Europe.  We  must  step  aboard. 
This  stepping  aboard  is  faith.  It  is  not  the  persuasion 
that  the  ship  can  take  us  across;  it  is  the  act  of  taking 
the  ship.  And  faith  in  Christ  is  taking  him  as  Saviour. 
Faith  is  the  act  of  stepping  aboard  Christ  and  depend- 
ing upon  him  to  take  us  safely  into  the  harbor  of  salva- 
tion. Or,  to  change  the  figure,  it  is  opening  our  hearts 
and  lives  to  let  Christ  in. 

The  act  of  taking  Christ  as  our  Saviour  from  sin  may, 


SALVATION  115 

in  a  sense,  be  a  simple  act,  but  it  is  also  a  vital  act.  It 
is  a  simple  act  to  press  the  electric  button,  but  some- 
thing happens:  the  room  is  illuminated.  It  is  a  simple 
act  to  open  the  throttle  of  the  engine,  but  something 
happens:  the  great  train  moves.  It  is  a  simple  matter 
for  the  branch  to  be  connected  with  the  vine,  but  some- 
thing results:  the  grapes  develop  and  ripen.  It  is  a 
simple  act  to  take  Christ  as  Saviour,  but  something 
happens:   the  transformation  of  character  begins. 

Goodness  is  the  result  of  saving  faith,  and  salvation 
is  not  the  result  of  goodness.  We  are  not  good  in  order 
to  be  saved,  but  good  because  we  are  saved.  If  we 
really  believe  that  the  eternal  Son  of  God  "emptied 
himself,"  and  took  "the  form  of  a  servant,"  and  was 
"obedient  even  unto  death,  yea,  the  death  of  the  cross, " 
in  order  that  he  might  save  us  from  our  sins,  and  we 
realize  that  we  owe  to  him  our  pardon,  our  peace  with 
God,  and  our  hope  of  glory,  is  it  possible  that  we  can 
actually  take  him  as  our  Saviour  without  loving  him? 
And  if  we  love  him  we  must  keep  his  commandments. 
Living  faith  cannot  be  without  works.  Those  who  are 
saved  will  serve.  "If  ye  love  me,"  says  Jesus,  "ye  will 
keep  my  commandments." 


Ill 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  LIFE  PRINCIPLES 


"  Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  wicked, 
Nor  standeth  in  the  way  of  sinners, 
Nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  scoffers: 
But  his  delight  is  in  the  law  of  Jehovah ; 
And  on  his  law  doth  he  meditate  day  and  night. 
And  he  shall  be  hke  a  tree  planted  by  the  streams  of  water, 
That  bringeth  forth  its  fruit  in  its  season, 
Whose  leaf  also  doth  not  wither; 
And  whatsoever  he  doeth  shall  prosper."  Ps.  1 : 1-3. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  LAWS  OF  LIFE 

Achievement  is  made  possible  by  the  discovery  of 
law.  The  marvels  of  the  modern  chemical  laboratory 
surpass  the  dreams  of  ancient  magicians  and  the  won- 
ders of  fairy  tales.  Out  of  garbage  the  chemist  can 
produce  the  colors  of  the  rainbow  and  the  fragrance  of 
the  flowers.  The  chemical  products  from  coal  tar  are 
legion.  All  this,  however,  has  been  made  possible  by 
the  discovery  of  the  laws  of  chemistry.  If  these  laws  of 
chemical  reaction  had  not  been  discovered  and  organ- 
ized, the  wonders  of  the  modern  laboratory  would  be 
impossible. 

Think  of  the  achievements  of  transportation.  A 
modern  steamship  can  take  us  from  New  York  to  Liv- 
erpool in  five  days.  A  passenger  can  board  a  train  in 
New  York  on  Monday  and  step  from  the  car  in  San 
Francisco  on  Friday.  These  marvels  of  transportation 
have  been  made  possible  only  by  the  discovery  of  laws ; 
the  combustion  of  coal,  the  expansive  power  of  steam, 
the  strength  of  steel,  the  effects  of  curve  and  grade, 
have  all  been  studied  until  formulas  have  been  estab- 
lished as  a  working  basis  for  transportation  engineers. 
These  formulas  are  the  statements  of  discovered  laws. 

We  stand  amazed  as  we  look  up  at  the  towering 
buildings  of  our  great  cities,  which  have  been  made 
possible  by  the  discovery  of  laws  of  the  material  world 
as  to  weight,  stress,  strength,  resistance.  An  engi- 
neer's handbook  will  give  the  formulas  upon  which  the 

119 


120  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

architect  bases  his  specifications  for  one  of  these  great 
structures.  Until  these  laws  were  discovered,  it  would 
have  been  perilous  to  attempt  the  construction  of  one 
of  these  modern  towers. 

If,  then,  we  are  to  make  the  most  of  life,  if  we  are  to 
achieve  the  highest  success  in  the  great  enterprise  of 
living,  we  must  discover,  or  must  have  discovered  for 
us,  the  laws  of  life.  The  discovery  of  the  laws  of  life 
is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  that  can  come  to  the 
world  of  men. 

To  the  ancient  Hebrews  were  given  ten  laws  of  life 
which  were  to  guide  them  in  their  various  relationships. 
These  ten  laws  of  life  were  introduced  by  the  statement : 
''And  God  spake  all  these  words,  saying,  I  am  Jehovah 
thy  God,  who  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
out  of  the  house  of  bondage.  Thou  shalt  .  ... 
Thou  shalt  not.  .  .  ."  These  laws  were  announced 
as  the  formulas  of  God,  whose  power  and  wisdom  and 
love  they  had  learned  to  know  and  to  trust.  They  were 
the  God-revealed  laws  of  life.  And  yet  the  Hebrews — 
and  all  nations — have  rebelled  against  these  practical 
formulas  for  the  guidance  of  man's  life  in  its  various  rela- 
tionships. 

We  rebel  against  the  Ten  Commandments  as  if  they 
were  prison  bars  to  shut  us  in,  when  they  really  are  doors 
that  lead  into  a  larger  and  better  world.  We  rebel 
against  them  as  if  they  were  weights,  when  they  are 
actually  wings  upon  which  we  are  to  mount  to  the 
heights  of  achievement.  We  chafe  under  them  as  if 
through  them  God  were  seeking  to  rob  us  of  some  treas- 
ure, when  truly  they  are  bundles  in  which  God  has 
wrapped  precious  possessions  intended  for  our  use  and 
enjoyment.    We  resist  the  Commandments  as  if  they 


THE  LAWS  OF  LIFE  121 

were  the  decrees  of  a  tyrant,  when  they  are  a  procla- 
mation of  true  Hberty  by  a  generous  Sovereign.  The 
Commandments  are  just  God's  statement  for  us  of  the 
formulas  of  life. 

If  we  were  chemists,  should  we  rebel  if  some  master 
chemist  should  place  in  our  hands  his  secret  formula? 
If  we  were  mariners,  should  we  decline  to  accept  a  won- 
derful chart  of  the  seas?  Should  we  quarrel  with  the 
formula  which  is  based  upon  the  nature  of  chemicals 
and  their  relations,  or  with  the  chart  that  conforms  to 
the  facts  of  latitude  and  longitude  and  soundings, 
lighthouses  and  buoys?  Then  why  should  we  rebel 
against  the  Ten  Commandments,  if  they  are  indeed  the 
true  formulas  of  life,  based  upon  the  true  nature  of  the 
world  in  which  we  live,  the  true  nature  of.  man  him- 
self, and  the  true  character  of  God? 

If  the  Ten  Commandments  are  indeed  the  discovery 
of  the  laws  of  life,  what  should  be  our  attitude  toward 
them?  Let  us  examine  these  laws  of  life  and  see  if 
they,  on  their  very  face,  do  not  bear  marks  of  being  the 
practical  formulas  of  life. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  LAW  OF  SERVING  GOD  ONLY 

"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me."     Ex.  20  :  3. 

The  first  law  of  life  deals  with  man's  relation  to  God. 
The  Ten  Commandments  put  first  things  first.  Man's 
relation  to  God  is  made  the  first  law  of  life  because  this 
is  the  most  fundamental  relation.  Jesus  emphasized 
this  fact.  He  taught,  "Seek  ye  first  his  kingdom,  and 
his  righteousness;  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you."  Only  the  acceptance  of  the  First  Com- 
mandment can  give  us  sound  personal  character  and  a 
sound  society,  which  are  essential  to  the  real  enjoy- 
ment of  material  good.  All  other  relationships  must 
be  made  secondar}^  to  our  relationship  to  God. 

We  have  had  various  theories  of  the  universe.  For 
centuries  it  was  believed  that  the  earth  was  the  center 
of  our  world  and  that  the  sun  and  moon  revolved  about 
the  earth.  But  as  time  went  on  and  knowledge  in- 
creased, it  was  discovered  that  many  observed  facts 
could  not  be  accounted  for  on  this  theory.  It  rather 
pricked  the  pride  of  this  planet  to  discover  that  the 
sun,  and  not  the  earth,  is  the  real  center  about  which 
the  other  bodies  in  our  system  revolve.  But  only  when 
we  make  the  sun  the  center  of  our  world  do  we  find  it 
to  be  an  ordered  whole.  So  only  when  we  make  God  the 
center  to  which  all  men  relate  their  lives  can  we  have 
an  ordered  society.  The  whole  system  of  human  rela- 
tionships is  bound  to  go  awry  when  we  put  God  out  of 
his  place.     Because  God  was  interested  in  the  fullest 

122 


THE  LAW  OF  SERVING  GOD  ONLY  123 

development  of  the  Israelites  as  a  nation  he  gave  them 
the  Commandment  which  was  to  make  him  the  center 
of  their  life:  *'Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before 
me." 

In  a  day  when  many  gods  were  worshiped,  this 
Commandment  taught  Israel  that  there  is  but  one  God. 
Do  we  appreciate  the  fact  that  Israel's  law  taught  the 
truth  of  one  God  when  polytheism,  or  the  worship  of 
many  gods,  was  practically  universal?  There  were 
many  gods  in  Babylon,  in  Egypt,  in  Canaan.  Behold- 
ing the  brightness  and  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  recog- 
nizing that  it  had  much  to  do  with  the  earth,  nations 
made  the  sun  their  god.  The  moon  was  queen  of  the 
night,  and  had  her  share  in  influencing  the  earth,  so 
the  moon  also  might  well  be  worshiped.  The  changing 
seasons  brought  the  fruits  of  field  and  orchard,  and  so 
men  worshiped  the  god  of  harvests.  The  forces  of  nat- 
ure became  deities  which  were  recognized  as  demand- 
ing worship.  In  the  midst  of  this  worship  of  many 
gods,  the  Commandment  of  Jehovah  went  forth :  ''Thou 
shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me.''  This  does  not 
mean  in  preference  to  Jehovah,  but  in  his  presence, 
or  in  his  sight.  All  other  gods  were  to  be  completely 
banished.  Jehovah  plainly  declared  that  there  is  no 
room  in  his  universe  for  any  other  god. 

It  is  easy  for  us  to-day  to  reject  the  polytheism  of 
the  ancients,  for  we  know  that  the  universe  is  one. 
Sun  and  moon  and  stars,  winds  and  thunder  and  light- 
ning, land  and  sea,  are  not  contending  forces  or  rival 
beings,  but  parts  of  one  great  whole.  The  whole  universe 
is  the  product  of  one  mind  and  obeys  a  single  will.  The 
earth  and  sun  and  moon  and  distant  stars  are  as  truly 
one  as  are  the  parts  of  a  watch,  with  its  wheels  within 


124  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

wheels  turning  this  way  and  that,  with  the  one  pur- 
pose of  moving  the  hands  about  the  face  in  perfect 
time.  There  is  but  one  God,  who  made  and  rules  earth 
and  sun  and  distant  stars.  So  it  is  easy  for  us  to  cast 
out  the  gods  of  the  ancient  Phoenicians  and  Greeks 
and  Romans.  We  give  no  place  to  Baal  or  Zeus  or 
Jupiter.  But  it  is  not  easy  for  us  to  give  the  one  God 
his  supreme  place. 

The  first  law  of  life,  however,  makes  plain  not  only 
the  fact  that  there  is  but  one  God,  but  that  this  one 
God  must  have  first  place  in  our  lives.  The  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  giving  God  first  place  is  the  first 
law  of  life  opens  to  man  the  door  to  the  highest  devel- 
opment. This  law  is  as  essential  to  success  in  the 
business  of  living  as  is  the  recognition  of  the  law  of 
gravity  to  the  business  of  building,  the  law  of  supply 
and  demand  to  business  and  commerce,  or  the  law  of 
justice  to  government.  It  is  not  easy  to  give  God 
first  place,  but  this  is  the  first  law  of  life. 

Men  have  assigned  happiness  first  place  in  their  lives 
and  have  given  themselves  to  pleasure.  But  it  has 
been  found  by  experience  that  happiness  cannot  be 
attained  as  a  life  goal,  but  is  a  by-product  of  the  service 
of  God.  Men  have  given  material  prosperity  first  place. 
They  thought  that  the  amassing  of  great  possessions 
would  bring  the  highest  satisfaction.  But  they  have 
discovered  that  material  prosperity  is  perilous.  Soci- 
ety needs  something  more  than  it  needs  wealth.  Mate- 
rial prosperity  has  often  brought  ruin  in  its  wake.  Ma- 
terialism robs  the  world  of  those  ideals  which  make  life 
really  worth  living.  The  great  essential  for  the  world's 
peace  and  true  prosperity  is  character.  And  where 
do  we  find  character?     Is  it  not  true  that  to  say  of 


THE  LAW  OF  SERVING  GOD  ONLY  125 

anyone,  ''He  is  a  God-fearing  man,"  is  the  same  as 
saying,  "He  is  a  man  of  character"? 

Think  of  the  men  who  have  done  most  for  humanity. 
Think  of  the  influence  of  Abraham  in  the  world  and 
of  the  blessing  which  his  life  left  among  men.  He 
was  "the  friend  of  God."  Moses  has  one  of  the  great- 
est monuments  in  all  the  world,  the  Hebrew  nation 
whose  life  he  molded.  Moses  "endured,  as  seeing  him 
who  is  invisible."  David  did  more  for  the  nation  of 
Israel  than  Solomon  in  all  his  glory,  or  any  other  of 
Israel's  kings.  David  continually  "  inquired  of  Jehovah, 
saying.  Shall  I?"  Nehemiah  rebuilt  the  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem and  reestablished  the  Jews  in  their  own  land.  To 
him,  in  large  measure,  the  world  owes  its  Old  Testament 
heritage.  Nehemiah  constantly  "prayed  to  the  God 
of  heaven."  The  greatest  character  of  history  is  Jesus 
Christ.  When  it  cost  him  his  all,  he  prayed,  "Not  my 
will,  but  thine,  be  done."  He  who  has  done  more  than 
all  other  men  to  enrich  human  life,  by  precept  and 
example  proclaimed  the  soundness  of  this  first  law  of 
life  which  God  gave  to  ancient  Israel. 

It  was  not  pride  or  self-seeking  that  led  God  to  give 
to  Israel  the  Commandment,  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  me."  God  was  bringing  a  nation  of  slaves 
out  of  Egypt.  He  was  planning  to  make  of  them  a 
great  nation.  As  the  first  essential  in  the  process  by 
which  they  would  reach  that  great  goal,  he  gave  them 
the  first  law  of  life,  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before  me." 

This  is  still  the  first  law  of  life.  In  this  Command- 
ment God  opens  the  door  to  life's  richest  blessings. 
For  one  who  seeks  to  make  a  success  of  the  business 
of  living  to  neglect  this  law,  is  as  foolish  as  for  a  man 


126  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

to  expect  to  succeed  as  a  manufacturing  chemist  and 
ignore  the  first  law  of  chemistry.  God  in  the  first  place 
in  our  lives  is  the  first  law  of  living.  The  apostles 
knew  what  they  were  about  when  they  said,  "We 
must  obey  God  rather  than  men." 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  LAW  OF  SERVING  GOD  SPIRITUALLY 

"Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  a  graven  image,  nor  any  Uke- 
ness  of  any  thing  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth 
beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth:  thou  shalt  not 
bow  down  thyself  unto  them,  nor  serve  them;  for  I  Jehovah  thy 
God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children,  upon  the  third  and  upon  the  fourth  generation  of 
them  that  hate  me,  and  showing  lovingkindness  unto  thousands 
of  them  that  love  me  and  keep  my  commandments."    Ex.  20: 4-6. 

The  first  law  of  life — that  God  must  be  made  the 
center  about  which  the  life  of  the  individual  and  of 
society  is  to  be  organized — is  followed  by  a  second  law 
closely  related  to  it.  This  second  law  is  that  our  rela- 
tion to  God  is  primarily  spiritual.  God  is  to  be  served 
and  worshiped  spiritually.  This  law  which  is  announced 
in  the  Second  Commandment  was  emphasized  by  Jesus 
when  he  said  to  the  woman  by  the  well  in  Samaria, 
"God  is  a  Spirit:  and  they  that  worship  him  must  wor- 
ship in  spirit  and  truth. " 

In  the  first  place,  this  second  law  of  life  forbids  the 
worship  of  idols.  Such  a  commandment  was  needed  in 
the  days  of  ancient  Israel  when  idol  worship  was  the 
common  practice  of  the  surrounding  nations.  Where 
modern  education  goes  there  is  little  need  of  forbidding 
the  worship  of  many  gods  and  many  idols.  In  heathen 
countries,  even  where  the  Christian  religion  is  not 
actually  adopted,  educated  people  can  no  longer  hold  to 
their  old  religion  with  its  many  gods  and  its  idols  of  wood 
and  stone  and  iron  and  brass. 

127 


128  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

But  although  modern  education  may  banish  polythe- 
ism and  idolatry,  and  render  this  Commandment  almost 
unnecessary  so  far  as  actual  idol  worship  is  concerned, 
this  second  law  of  life,  in  its  fuller  interpretation,  is  still 
needed.  It  is  needed  even  in  Christian  America,  in 
Christian  homes,  and  in  the  Christian  Church.  It  is  a 
law  of  life  which  is  fundamental  and,  like  all  the  other 
Commandments,  is  neither  rendered  unnecessary  by 
education  nor  outgrown  by  civilization. 

The  deeper  teaching  of  the  Second  Commandment  is 
that  God  must  be  worshiped  spiritually.  Any  worship 
or  service  other  than  spiritual  worship  and  service  is 
bound  to  pervert  man 's  nature  and  impair  his  life.  The 
law  of  spiritual  service  and  worship  can  no  more  be 
neglected  than  the  law  that  the  one  true  God  must  be 
enthroned  in  the  life. 

Yet  by  many  who  bear  the  name  Christian  this 
Commandment  is  not  accepted  as  expressing  a  law  of 
life,  for  they  practice  image  worship.  They  defend  the 
practice  by  the  argument  that  it  is  difficult,  especially 
for  the  ignorant,  to  think  of  God  without  the  aid  of 
some  material  object  before  them  which  enables  them  to 
concentrate  their  thought  upon  him  whom  they  would 
worship.  An  image  or  a  picture,  they  urge,  is  an  aid  in 
the  worship  of  God.  No  doubt  Aaron  advanced  this  same 
argument  when  he  made  the  golden  calf.  The  people 
were  complaining  because  Moses  had  disappeared.  He 
had  been  God's  visible  representative,  and  now  God's 
leadership  seemed  to  have  been  lost.  The  people 
wanted  a  God  whom  they  could  see,  so  Aaron  made  the 
golden  calf  to  give  them  a  visible  representation  of 
Jehovah.  But  the  wrath  of  God  was  kindled  against 
Aaron  and  against  Israel  because  they  had  done  this 


THE  LAW  OF  SERVING  GOD  SPIRITUALLY     129 

thing.  The  Commandments  of  God  were  broken  as 
surely  as  the  stone  tables  upon  which  they  were  written 
were  shattered  when  Moses  cast  them  upon  the  ground 
in  his  indignation.  Never  could  the  people  of  Israel  be- 
come the  nation  which  God  had  planned  to  make  them 
if  they  used  images  in  worship  instead  of  worshiping 
God  as  a  Spirit. 

The  use  of  images  in  worship  really  defeats  its  own 
purpose,  for  the  images  soon  become  substitutes  for 
God  himself.  This  is  a  simple  fact  of  experience.  God 
is  lost  in  the  image.  And  in  losing  a  true  conception  of 
God,  character  also  is  lost.  So  Paul  wrote  to  the  Ro- 
mans :  ''Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became 
fools,  and  changed  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God 
for  the  likeness  of  an  image  of  corruptible  man,  and  of 
birds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping  things. 
Wherefore  God  gave  them  up  in  the  lusts  of  their  hearts 
unto  uncleanness. "  Infraction  of  the  law  of  spiritual 
worship  by  the  use  of  material  representations  of  God, 
or  the  use  of  images  in  the  worship  of  God,  leads  ulti- 
mately to  ignorance  of  God.  Images  are  not  stepping- 
stones  to  a  true  knowledge  of  God,  but  barriers  that 
stand  in  the  way  of  attaining  a  true  conception  of  God 
who  is  a  Spirit. 

When  Mary  Magdalene  met  her  risen  Lord,  she 
sought  to  lay  hold  upon  him,  but  Jesus  gently  rebuked 
her.  Her  fellowship  with  Christ  henceforth  was  to  be  a 
higher  and  a  truer  fellowship  than  she  had  ever  known 
before:  it  was  to  be  a  spiritual  fellowship.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  enabling  them  to  testify  to  the  reality  of  his  re- 
surrection body,  Jesus  asked  his  disciples  to  touch  his 
risen  body  and  to  behold  him  eat.  But  the  resulting 
conviction  was  not  the  highest  kind  of  faith,  nor  the 
9 


130  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

faith  upon  which  Jesus  pronounced  his  blessing.  Jesus 
said  to  Thomas,  "Because  thou  hast  seen  me,  thou 
hast  beheved:  blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and 
yet  have  beheved."  Moses  who  gave  the  people  of 
Israel  their  wonderful  conception  of  the  character  of 
God  "endured,  as  seeing  him  who  is  invisible." 

There  is  no  more  subtle  foe  to  true  religion  than  the 
fallacy  of  seeking  physical  contact  with  God.  Jesus 
established  the  Lord 's  Supper  in  order  ever  to  keep  in 
the  minds  of  his  disciples  down  through  the  ages  the 
great  fact  of  his  death  as  the  Lamb  of  God  to  take  away 
the  sin  of  the  world.  This  sacrament  is  a  symbol  of 
Christ's  saving  work  and  of  our  spiritual  relation  to 
him.  But  some,  like  Mary  who  would  clasp  the  feet  of 
Jesus  in  the  flesh,  have  turned  the  bread  and  cup — which 
represent  the  broken  body  and  the  shed  blood  of  Jesus — 
into  his  actual  flesh  and  blood.  Thus  they  feel  that 
they  can  actually  touch  Christ.  They  think  that  thus 
they  bring  Christ  nearer,  just  as  those  who  advocate 
the  use  of  images  think  that  they  can  in  this  way  bring 
God  nearer.  But  this  practice  results  rather  in  substi- 
tuting the  bread  of  the  sacrament  for  the  spiritual 
Christ.  The  very  means  of  communion  may  become  a 
barrier  to  real  spiritual  fellowship.  So  long  as  the 
brazen  serpent  of  the  wilderness  was  a  memorial  or 
symbol  of  what  God  had  done  for  Israel  in  healing  the 
bites  of  the  fiery  serpents  in  the  wilderness,  it  was  a 
blessing;  but  as  soon  as  it  became  an  object  of  worship 
for  some  supposed  virtue  in  itself,  it  became  a  curse  to 
be  banished.  The  Lord's  Supper  is  a  memorial  to  re- 
mind us  of  what  Christ  has  done,  and  of  our  spiritual 
relation  to  him.  When  the  "Host"— the  wafer,  or 
bread — becomes  an  object  of  adoration,  as  the  embodi- 


THE  LAW  OF  SERVING  GOD  SPIRITUALLY     131 

ment  of  Christ,  it  becomes  an  idoL  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  the  cross  as  a  symbol  of  what  Christ 
has  done  for  us,  and  the  crucifix  as  a  representation  of 
Christ  himself  before  which  we  bow. 

Protestant  Christians  are  not  free  from  the  tempta- 
tion to  set  aside  this  fundamental  law  of  life  that  God  is 
to  be  worshiped  and  served  spiritually,  for  it  is  easy  to 
substitute  forms  and  ceremonies  for  real  heart  service. 
To  Israel  the  prophet  Joel  said,  ''Rend  your  heart,  and 
not  your  garments,  and  turn  unto  Jehovah  your  God.  '* 
Outward  forms  in  the  worship  of  God  who  is  a  Spirit 
are  empty  unless  they  are  the  sincere  expression  of  the 
heart.  The  Second  Commandment  forbids  closed  eyes 
in  prayer  as  a  pretense  of  shutting  out  the  world,  while 
the  mind  goes  on  picturing  unholy  scenes.  The  law  of 
spiritual  service  forbids  the  bowed  head  as  a  sign  of 
humility  before  God  while  the  heart  is  lifted  up  with 
pride.  To  bend  the  knee,  while  the  will  is  still  stubborn 
before  God,  is  not  worship.  Songs  of  praise  which  fall 
from  the  lips  without  rising  from  the  heart  cannot  please 
God.  Prayers  which  are  the  utterance  of  words  and  not 
the  desires  and  aspirations  of  the  heart,  are  not  prayer 
at  all.  All  such  practices  break  the  second  law  of  life 
which  is  that  God  must  be  worshiped  spiritually. 

God  must  be  given  first  place  in  our  lives,  and  our  re- 
lation to  him  must  be  a  relation  of  one  spirit  to  another 
Spirit.  Our  service  must  be  the  service  of  the  heart. 
This  spiritual  service,  however,  expresses  itseK  through 
man's  whole  being — mind,  heart,  soul,  and  strength 
— and  in  every  thought,  feeling,  purpose,  word,  and  act. 

One  of  the  blessings  of  the  Christian  religion  is  that 
it  brings  the  spirit  of  man  in  touch  with  the  Spirit  of 
God.     No  image  is  to  come  between  us  and  God. 


132  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

Neither  is  any  human  person  to  stand  in  the  way  of  our 
direct  approach  to  him.  When  Jesus  Christ  said,  *'It  is 
finished, "  the  veil  in  the  Temple  was  rent  from  the  top 
to  the  bottom.  Henceforth  God  was  to  be  worshiped 
directly  and  through  no  mediator,  save  the  Second 
Person  in  the  Godhead  himself.  We  are  to  come  directly 
to  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  in  spiritual  worship  and  service. 
''Having  therefore,  brethren,  boldness  to  enter  into  the 
holy  place  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  the  way  which  he 
dedicated  for  us,  a  new  and  living  way,  through  the  veil, 
that  is  to  say,  his  flesh;  and  having  a  great  priest  over 
the  house  of  God;  let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart  in 
fulness  of  faith. " 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  LAW  OF  REVERENCE  FOR  HOLY  THINGS 

"Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  Jehovah  thy  God  in  vain; 
for  Jehovah  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  his  name  in 
vain."     Ex.  20  :  7. 

To  the  ordinary  hearer  the  Third  Commandment 
seems  merely  to  forbid  the  use  of  God^s  name  in  that 
kind  of  profanity  which  is  commonly  called  '^cursing.'' 
Others,  going  deeper,  add  to  this  meaning  the  injunction 
not  to  swear  falsely  or  perjure  oneself  in  God's  name. 
Thus  the  Commandment  teaches  the  binding  character 
of  oaths  or  pledges  taken  in  the  name  of  God.  But  the 
Commandment  goes  deeper  still.  It  commands  rever- 
ence for  anything  which,  because  of  its  relation  to  God, 
is  holy  or  sacred. 

A  name  represents  the  thing  itself.  A  person 's  name 
identifies  him  and,  to  those  who  know  him,  represents 
his  character.  A  man's  signature  on  a  check  or  docu- 
ment stands  for  the  man  himself  and  his  authority.  By 
God's  name  is  meant  anything  which  stands  for  God, 
represents  God,  or  suggests  God.  As  the  Shorter 
Catechism  says,  it  is  ''anything  whereby  God  maketh 
himself  known."  Relation  to  God  makes  anything 
holy,  and  therefore  to  be  reverenced.  Jesus,  in  speak- 
ing of  oaths,  said,  ''Swear  not  at  all;  neither  by  the 
heaven,  for  it  is  the  throne  of  God;  nor  by  the  earth, 
for  it  is  the  footstool  of  his  feet;  nor  by  Jerusalem,  for 
it  is  the  city  of  the  great  King. "  Heaven  and  earth  and 
the  holy  city  are  to  be  reverenced  because  of  their  rela- 

133 


134  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

tion  to  God.  The  human  body  is  to  be  reverenced  be- 
cause it  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  third  law  of  life,  then,  commands  reverence  for 
all  holy  things.  Anything  which  in  any  wise  reveals  or 
makes  God  known  must  not  be  taken  lightly.  This  in- 
volves, first  of  all,  reverence  for  the  name  of  God. 

A  word  is  just  a  sound  which  has  acquired  meaning 
by  association.  Where  there  is  written  language,  that 
sound  is  represented  by  written  characters.  Any  word 
acquires  meaning  by  having  that  meaning  impressed 
upon  it  by  use.  A  bottle  of  a  certain  shape  suggests 
milk,  because  we  are  accustomed  to  the  use  of  that 
peculiar  shape  of  bottle  for  carrying  milk.  A  bottle  of 
another  shape  suggests  medicine,  because  such  a  bottle 
is  commonly  used  to  hold  medicine. 

So  words  are  names  which  have  acquired  meaning  by 
being  used  to  convey  certain  ideas.  "Man"  is  just  a 
sound,  but  the  word  brings  to  the  hearer  a  definite  con- 
cept, as  it  is  called.  If  the  word  is  to  bring  to  any  mind 
the  full  meaning  of  ''man,"  it  must  be  kept  pure  by 
being  associated  only  with  those  traits  and  qualities 
which  belong  to  true  manhood.  As  soon  as  the  word 
''man " is  associated  with  the  idea  of  cruelty  or  immoral- 
ity it  becomes  debased,  and  can  no  longer  convey  the 
higher  conception  of  manhood.  Just  so  it  is  with  the 
name  of  God.  Always  speak  the  word  "God"  to  a 
child  reverently,  in  tones  or  associations  that  suggest 
love  and  kindness  and  justice  and  wisdom,  and  "God" 
will  come  to  mean  to  the  child  the  One  who  possesses 
such  a  character.  But  let  that  name  be  associated  with 
anger  and  passion  and  vulgarity,  and  what  will  it  mean 
to  a  child? 

When  a  mountain  boy  was  asked  if  he  knew  Jesus, 


THE  LAW  OF  REVERENCE  FOR  HOLY  THINGS  135 

he  replied,  "I  don't  know  who  he  is,  but  I  hear  dad 
talking  about  him  when  he's  mad."  What  idea  could 
that  boy  have  of  the  character  of  Jesus  if  he  heard  his 
name  uttered  only  in  the  curses  that  fell  from  the  lips 
of  a  man  in  a  fit  of  passion? 

Because  our  conception  of  the  character  of  God  is 
affected  so  directly  by  the  use  which  we  make  of  his 
name,  a  true  conception  of  the  character  of  God,  who  is 
holy,  can  be  formed  and  retained  only  if  we  use  God's 
name  reverently.  A  man  cannot  associate  God 's  name 
with  evil  passions  and  at  the  same  time  associate  it  with 
a  feeling  of  love  and  reverence.  It  is  impossible.  The 
reverent  use  of  God 's  name,  therefore,  is  absolutely 
necessary  if  we  are  to  serve  and  worship  God  spiritually 
and  are  to  give  him  his  supreme  place  in  our  lives.  The 
first  two  Commandments  cannot  be  kept  if  we  break  the 
Third  Commandment. 

A  pledge  made  before  God  as  a  witness  must  be  kept 
with  absolute  fidelity.  We  cannot  break  such  an  oath 
and  give  God  his  true  place  in  our  lives.  To  break  that 
oath  is  to  deny  either  God's  knowledge  or  God's 
righteousness.  By  the  very  act  of  disregarding  an  oath 
we  turn  our  backs  on  God.  The  perjurer  blinds  his 
spiritual  eyes.  His  perjury  clogs  the  channels  through 
which  God  reveals  himself  to  men. 

The  Word  of  God  is  to  be  reverenced  because  it  is 
God's  Word.  An  irreverent  attitude  toward  the  Bible 
closes  up  the  chief  channel  through  which  a  knowledge 
of  God  and  his  will  comes  to  men.  Make  a  joke  of  a 
verse  of  Scripture,  and  it  begins  to  lose  its  true  meaning. 
Speak  lightly  of  God's  revelation  in  his  Word  and  its 
message  loses  its  power.  Reverence  the  Word  of  God 
and  the  channel  is  opened  for  the  truth  to  flow  into  the 


136  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

mind,  that  we  may  know  Him  whom  to  know  is  life 
eternal. 

God 's  house  is  to  be  reverenced.  Of  course  a  church 
building  is  not  God's  dwelling  place,  for  he  "dwelleth 
not  in  temples  made  with  hands."  The  heaven  of 
heavens  cannot  contain  him;  much  less  any  earthly 
temple  made  by  the  hands  of  men.  But  a  stated  house 
of  worship  is  set  apart  as  a  meeting  place  with  God. 
The  Tabernacle  was  the  tent  of  meeting  with  God.  The 
Temple  was  the  place  of  God 's  presence.  In  the  church 
building,  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God,  many  have 
found  the  very  presence  of  Jehovah.  And  because  the 
place  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  is  thus  associated 
with  God  in  thought  and  experience,  this  place  must  be 
treated  with  true  reverence.  Irreverence  in  God's 
house  must  necessarily  react  upon  the  irreverent  by 
dulling  his  sense  of  the  holiness  of  God. 

Because  the  body  is  the  temple  of  God,  profaning  it 
by  physical  sin  drives  God  out  of  the  soul  that  dwells  in 
the  body.  Therefore  vice  undermines  character  and 
destroys  the  soul  with  frightful  rapidity. 

Irreverence  for  that  which,  by  its  association  with 
God,  has  become  sacred  or  holy  is  a  sin  to  which  the 
Third  Commandment  has  attached  a  penalty  because, 
that  penalty  is  inherent  in  the  sin  itself.  In  the  story 
of  "The  Man  Without  a  Country, "  Philip  Nolan  cursed 
the  United  States.  His  judge  declared  that  the  just 
penalty  of  his  deed  was  that  he  should  never  again  hear 
the  United  States  mentioned.  Irreverence  for  the 
name  of  God  and  for  anything  whereby  he  makes  him- 
self known,  renders  one  an  outcast  from  God.  This  is 
simply  the  result  of  the  sin  itself.  "Jehovah  will  not 
hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  his  name  in  vain." 


THE  LAW  OF  REVERENCE  FOR  HOLY  THINGS  137 

Consequences  follow  disobedience  as  certainly  as  in  the 
case  of  any  natural  law. 

The  third  law  of  life,  the  law  of  reverence  for  holy 
things,  is  written  deep  in  man's  own  nature.  God  did 
not  make  this  law  at  Sinai;  he  revealed  this  law  already 
written  in  the  very  nature  of  God  and  man.  It  is  as 
essential  to  us  in  the  business  of  living  as  the  laws  of 
chemical  reaction  are  to  the  manufacturing  chemist  or 
as  the  laws  of  health  are  to  the  physician. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  LAW  OF  TAKING  TIME  FOR  THE  SOUL 

"Remember  the  sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days  shalt 
thou  labor,  and  do  all  thy  work;  but  the  seventh  day  is  a  sabbath 
unto  Jehovah  thy  God:  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou, 
nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maid- 
servant, nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates: 
for  in  six  days  Jehovah  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all 
that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day:  wherefore  Jehovah 
blessed  the  sabbath  day,  and  hallowed  it."     Ex.  20  :  8-11. 

The  Fourth  Commandment  probably  causes  more 
debate  than  any  other  Commandment  of  the  Ten.  As 
soon  as  the  subject  of  Sabbath  observance  comes  up  for 
discussion,  much  begins  to  be  said  about  "blue  laws" 
and  unreasonable  legislation.  The  advocates  of  an 
open  Sunday  insist  that  Sunday  observance  is  urged  by 
a  party  of  pessimists  whose  sole  purpose  is  to  take  the 
joy  out  of  life.  They  do  not  realize  that  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath  is  not  man-made  legislation,  but  a  law  of  life 
written  in  nature. 

Like  any  other  law,  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  may  be 
disregarded  if  the  breaker  of  the  law  is  willing  to  pay 
the  price.  A  bridge  architect  may  decide  that  it  is  too 
costly  to  use  cables  of  the  size  which  sound  specifica- 
tions would  call  for,  and  may  substitute  materials  of 
smaller  dimensions;  but  some  day  the  law  of  stress  and 
strain  will  exact  its  toll,  and  the  bridge  will  crash  into 
the  river.  The  novice  in  the  laboratory  may  disregard 
one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  chemistry,  but  he  must 
pay  the  penalty  when  his  mixture  explodes.    The  farmer 

138 


THE  LAW  OF  TAKING  TIME  FOR  THE  SOUL  139 

may  disregard  the  law  of  harvests,  and  try  to  reap  with- 
out sowing  or  attempt  to  sow  at  harvest  time  and  reap 
at  sowing  time;  but  he  must  pay  the  penalty  of  his  folly 
in  failure.  So  it  is  with  the  law  of  the  Sabbath.  We 
may  disregard  it  if  we  choose,  but  we  must  at  last  pay 
the  price.  The  law  that  we  must  take  time  for  the 
culture  of  the  soul  is  one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of 
life.  We  cannot  make  a  success  of  the  business  of  living 
without  obeying  this  law. 

The  Fourth  Commandment  is  written  in  man's 
nature.  God  did  not  make  this  law  on  Sinai  as  an 
afterthought.  It  was  not  given  to  restrict  and  hamper, 
or  even  to  discipline  Israel.  God  revealed  it  to  Israel  as 
one  of  the  laws  of  life  which  is  based  upon  the  nature 
of  man,  just  as  the  law  of  gravity  is  based  upon  the 
nature  of  the  material  world. 

Writers  have  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
number  seven  seems  to  be  written  in  nature.  The  lunar 
month  is  four  times  seven  days,  or  four  weeks.  Seven 
seems  to  be  a  basic  number  in  the  development  of 
fevers.  It  is  a  common  saying  that  the  material  which 
constitutes  the  body  changes  every  seven  years.  Cer- 
tain physiological  processes  operate  on  the  basis  of 
multiples  of  seven  days.  So  there  seems  to  be  some 
deep-seated  reason,  found  in  man's  own  nature,  for 
the  seven-day  week  marked  by  the  Sabbath. 

There  is  w^ritten  in  nature  also  the  law  of  rest.  The 
farmer  has  learned  that  he  will  get  the  best  results  if  he 
lets  his  fields  rest.  He  has  w^orked  out  a  principle  of 
rotation  of  crops,  with  a  period  of  rest  so  as  not  to  ex- 
haust the  resources  of  the  soil.  Even  machinery  lasts 
longer  if  it  is  allowed  to  rest,  for  rest  retards  the  process 
of  crystallization  of  the  metal.    Man,  as  a  worker,  is 


140  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

more  efficient  if  he  does  not  work  every  day  but  is  given 
regular  periods  of  rest.  The  Sabbath  of  rest  from  labor 
makes  for  health  and  efficiency.  So  our  Lord  himself 
said,  ''The  sabbath  was  made  for  man. " 

But  this  is  not  the  most  important  element  in  the  law 
of  the  Sabbath  and  its  observance.  The  Fourth  Com- 
mandment insists  upon  intensive  labor  on  six  days  so 
that  labor  shall  not  be  necessary  on  the  seventh  day, 
because  man  needs  something  else  on  that  seventh  day. 
There  is  something  more  important  at  stake  than  a 
healthy  body  or  an  efficient  workman.  God  does  not 
exalt  the  physical.  When  Jesus  was  tempted  in  the 
wilderness  to  turn  the  stones  into  bread  because  his 
physical  nature  demanded  sustenance,  he  replied, 
"Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word 
that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God. "  Again,  he 
said  to  his  disciples,  ''And  be  not  afraid  of  them  that 
kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul. "  The 
Sabbath 's  rest  is  important  for  the  health  of  the  body, 
but  it  becomes  more  important  still  when  we  consider 
the  business  of  living,  for  the  Sabbath's  rest  vitally 
concerns  the  welfare  of  the  soul. 

The  law  of  taking  time  for  the  culture  of  the  soul  is 
essential  to  the  three  laws  of  life  which  we  have  already 
considered.  God  will  not  long  continue  to  have  supreme 
place  in  our  lives  and  in  society,  nor  will  he  long  be 
worshiped  spiritually  and  directly,  nor  will  holy  things 
long  continue  to  be  reverenced,  when  men  cease  to 
observe  God's  day. 

Pharaoh  was  not  altogether  a  fool,  even  though  he 
was  guilty  of  great  folly.  He  was  afraid  to  let  the  people 
of  Israel  go  into  the  wilderness  to  worship  because  he 
knew  that,  freed  from  the  grind  of  work,  they  would 


THE  LAW  OF  TAKING  TIME  FOR  THE  SOUL  141 

have  time  to  think  of  higher  things.  He  hoped  to  keep 
them  in  bondage  by  incessant  toiL  The  Devil's 
philosophy  is  Pharaoh's;  if  he  can  only  keep  our  days 
full  of  the  tasks  and  activities  that  tie  us  down  to  the 
present  world,  he  knows  that  we  shall  have  little  room 
for  the  interests  of  the  higher  life.  Those  who  have 
done  most  to  help  the  world  are  the  men  who  have 
found  time  to  think.  The  Devil  wants  to  keep  us  so 
occupied  that  we  shall  have  no  leisure  for  meditation 
upon  higher  things.  If  there  is  to  be  any  soul  culture  in 
the  individual  and  in  society,  there  must  be  time  dedi- 
cated to  this  purpose.  Ideals  and  aspirations  will  perish 
when  the  interests  of  this  world  crowd  over  from  the 
six  days  into  the  seventh.  Even  if  it  could  be  proved 
that  men  would  enjoy  better  health  if  they  gave  Sunday 
to  sport  and  recreation;  could  we  afford  to  purchase 
health  and  enjojnnent  at  so  great  a  price? 

What  is  man?  When  has  man  really  succeeded  in 
attaining  the  goal  of  manhood?  If  man  is  at  his  best  a 
mere  physical  being,  he  has  achieved  success  when  he 
has  developed  a  magnificent  body,  healthy,  comfortable, 
and  efficient,  and  succeeds  in  maintaining  this  high 
standard  of  physical  well-being.  But  the  man  who  is 
physically  perfect  is  httle  better  than  the  beasts.  It  is 
man's  intellect  that  lifts  him  above  the  animals. 

Has  man,  however,  attained  his  highest  goal  when  he 
has  developed  his  mind  until  he  has  become  a  marvelous 
thinking  machine,  when  he  has  mastered  the  arts  and 
sciences  and  conquered  the  forces  of  nature  by  the  power 
of  mind?  Man  as  a  thinking  machine,  unguided  by 
conscience,  is  worse  than  the  beast.  The  marvelous 
achievements  of  war  are  not  the  achievements  of  which 
true  manhood  boasts.    The  true  man  has  a  conscience. 


142  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

But  is  even  the  conscientious  man  the  highest  type 
of  manhood?  Paul,  when  he  breathed  forth  threatening 
and  slaughter  and  dragged  men  to  prison  and  voted  that 
they  be  put  to  death,  was  conscientious.  Even  man 
with  a  conscience  is  not  the  highest  type  of  man  unless 
that  conscience  is  guided  by  sound  moral  laws.  The 
man  with  a  conscience  must  know  right,  and  a  knowl- 
edge of  right  is  the  result  of  moral  education. 

Evidently  the  truest  manhood  cannot  be  attained 
without  moral  culture,  and  moral  culture,  like  all  other 
culture,  requires  time.  If,  then,  we  give  up  the  day  set 
apart  for  the  nurture  of  the  conscience,  for  the  develop- 
ment of  man 's  moral  and  spiritual  nature,  we  are  turn- 
ing abruptly  aside  from  the  path  that  leads  to  the  true 
goal  of  human  life.  The  hope  of  humanity  is  in  God, 
and  unless  there  is  time  for  fellowship  with  God  and  the 
culture  of  man's  spiritual  nature  through  this  fellow- 
ship, manhood  will  fall  to  the  level  of  the  beasts. 

The  argument  that  man  needs  Sunday  for  physical 
recreation  becomes  absurd  when  it  is  placed  over  against 
the  great  fact  that  humanity  needs  a  conscience  and  a 
moral  and  spiritual  nature  to  make  this  world  a  decent 
place  for  man  to  live  in.  And  it  becomes  worse  than 
absurd  when  we  remember  that  the  soul  of  man  will  out- 
live his  body,  and  that  it  is  vastly  more  important  to 
study  the  needs  of  man's  spiritual  nature  than  it  is 
to  study  the  needs  of  the  body.  ''Thou  foolish  one,  this 
night  is  thy  soul  required  of  thee ;  and  the  things  which 
thou  hast  prepared,  whose  shall  they  be?" 

In  the  Fourth  Commandment,  God  is  not  taking 
from  us  one  of  our  precious  days;  he  is  trying  to  make 
the  other  six  days  really  worth  keeping.  The  law  of 
taking  time  for  the  soul  is  a  true  law  of  life. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  AUTHORITY 

"Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  that  thy  days  may  be  long 
in  the  land  which  Jehovah  thy  God  giveth  thee."     Ex.  20  :  12. 

Educators  recognize  the  principle  that  little  progress 
can  be  made  in  the  development  of  the  human  race  if 
each  generation  must  begin  where  the  preceding  genera- 
tion began.  The  race  has  made  progress  by  each  gener- 
ation 's  adding  its  own  achievement  to  the  achievement 
of  the  generation  which  went  before. 

If  each  generation  had  to  build  its  houses  without 
learning  from  the  experience  of  the  older  generation, 
our  modern  buildings  could  never  have  been  erected. 
We  should  still  be  living  in  caves  or  rude  huts  made 
from  the  branches  of  trees.  If  we  had  to  discover  for 
ourselves  the  processes  of  carding  wool  and  spinning 
and  weaving,  we  should  still  be  wearing  skins  instead  of 
woven  garments,  for  the  modern  manufacture  of  cloth 
is  the  result  of  each  generation's  improving  upon  the 
work  of  the  generation  which  went  before.  The  modern 
locomotive  has  not  been  developed  by  the  present 
makers,  but  has  been  made  possible  by  accumulated 
improvement  upon  the  first  engine. 

If  we  had  to  discover  the  sciences  and  develop  the 
arts  from  first  principles  for  ourselves,  without  profit- 
ing by  the  discoveries  and  achievements  of  those  who 
have  gone  before  us,  our  modern  wonders  would  be 
impossible.    But  by  the  process  of  education  each  gen- 

143 


144  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

eration  profits  by  the  experience  of  the  generations 
which  preceded.  Give  up  the  processes  of  education 
by  means  of  which  the  experience  of  the  race  is  passed 
on  to  the  next  generation,  and  soon  man  will  be  back 
in  the  stage  of  barbarism  and  savagery. 

The  hope  of  the  race,  then,  is  education.  This  in- 
cludes, of  course,  religious  education  as  well  as  every 
other  kind  of  education,  for  man 's  highest  development 
is  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual,  not  material.  But 
there  can  be  no  education  without  recognition  of 
authority.  We  cannot  profit  by  the  experience  of 
others  unless  we  respect  the  authority  of  the  person 
who  seeks  to  pass  on  to  us  that  experience  or  its  results. 
If  the  child  does  not  respect  the  authority  of  the  teacher 
who  says  that  two  and  two  make  four,  and  three  times 
two  make  six,  the  multiplication  table  will  never  be 
learned  and  the  child  will  have  to  limit  his  counting  to 
his  fingers;  he  will  never  get  far  in  the  science  of 
numbers.  If  the  pupil  will  not  take  the  teacher's 
authority  for  the  statement  that  c-a-t  spells  ''cat,"  the 
pupil  will  never  learn  to  read. 

Of  course,  in  all  education,  one  must  learn  to  think 
for  himself  and  learn  reasons  for  what  he  accepts  as 
true,  but  necessary  to  the  educational  process  is  respect 
for  the  teacher  as  an  authority.  ''Teacher  said," 
usually  means  "it  must  be  true. "  Respect  for  author- 
ity makes  the  education  of  the  race  possible.  Respect 
for  authority,  therefore,  is  fundamental  to  the  process 
of  education,  whereby  the  experience  of  the  race  is 
passed  on  from  generation  to  generation.  This  is  true 
of  chemistry,  medicine,  manufacture,  business,  music, 
art,  religion,  and  every  other  enterprise  of  man.  And  it 
is  especially  true  of  religion,  which,  as  we  have  learned. 


THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  AUTHORITY      145 

is  the  first  essential  for  true  living,  for  our  relation  to 
God  is  the  fundamental  relation  of  life. 

No  well-organized  society  can  exist  without  the 
recognition  of  authority.  Even  a ''government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people"  must  have 
authority.  It  has  its  legislative  bodies  to  make  laws  to 
bind  its  citizens.  It  has  executives  to  carry  out  and 
enforce  those  laws.  It  has  authorities  to  punish  the 
breaking  of  those  laws.  As  soon  as  there  ceases  to  be 
an  authority,  even  in  a  democracy,  government  ceases 
to  exist  and  anarchy  reigns. 

There  can  be  no  business  without  authority.  Even 
a  cooperative,  profit-sharing  business  must  have  its 
managers  and  its  policies.  In  any  cooperative  enter- 
prise there  must  be  system  and  order,  which  means 
that  there  must  be  rules  which  are  recognized  as 
authoritative. 

Human  society  rests  upon  sound  morality  and  moral- 
ity depends  upon  conscience  guided  by  sound  moral 
laws.  There  must  be  some  moral  authority  to  say, 
''This  is  right,"  or  "this  is  wrong."  Cast  aside  the 
moral  law,  and  the  foundation  of  society  is  undermined. 

Absolutely  fundamental,  therefore,  to  the  welfare  of 
the  human  race  is  respect  for  authority.  The  Fifth 
Commandment,  which  states  the  fifth  law  of  life,  the 
law  of  respect  for  authority,  begins  where  the  experience 
of  the  child  begins.  This  Commandment  emphasizes 
respect  for  parents  because  this  is  the  first  relationship 
into  which  the  child  comes.  The  parent  is  the  child's 
first  teacher,  first  ruler,  and  first  legislator.  The  Fifth 
Commandment,  however,  implies  the  duty  of  respect 
for  all  authority:  respect  for  teachers,  for  employers, 
for  civil  authorities,  from  the  police  officer  on  the 
10 


146  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

corner  to  the  President  as  the  chief  executive  of  the 
nation.  ''Render  to  all  their  dues:  tribute  to  whom 
tribute  is  due;  custom  to  whom  custom;  fear  to  whom 
fear;  honor  to  whom  honor. " 

There  can  be  no  progress,  no  order,  no  peace,  no 
prosperity,  without  the  recognition  of  and  obedience  to 
this  fifth  law  of  life,  the  law  of  respect  for  authority. 
It  is  fundamental  to  the  life  of  the  individual,  the  home, 
the  community,  and  the  nation.  The  higher  the 
authority,  the  greater  is  the  obligation  to  respect  it. 
This  principle  the  apostles  recognized  when,  facing  the 
highest  court  of  the  Jewish  nation,  they,  respecting  a 
still  higher  authority,  refused  to  render  obedience  be- 
cause, as  they  said,  ''We  must  obey  God  rather  than 
men."  Paul  therefore  wrote,  "Obey  your  parents  in 
the  Lord. " 

Any  enduring  civilization  must  rest  upon  the  law  of 
respect  for  authority.  China,  with  its  honor  for 
parents,  has  outlived  many  a  more  progressive  nation. 
Striving  for  the  new  has  its  rewards,  but  it  also  has  its 
perils,  when  it  tempts  one  to  disregard  the  experience 
of  those  who  have  gone  before.  History  witnesses  to 
the  soundness  of  this  Commandment  which  teaches 
respect  for  the  authority  of  experience,  "that  thy  days 
may  be  long  in  the  land  which  Jehovah  thy  God  giveth 
thee." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  LIFE 

"Thou  shalt  not  kill."     Ex.  20  :  13. 

We  have  found  that  the  fundamental  laws  of  life  deal 
with  our  relation  to  God.  But  it  should  be  noted  that 
the  Commandments  do  not  stop  with  the  laws  of  our 
relation  to  God.  Nor  does  our  relation  to  God  exclude 
relation  to  others.  A  firm  foundation  is  the  first  re- 
quisite for  a  sound  building,  just  as  our  right  relation 
to  God  is  the  foundation  of  our  true  living ;  but  in  erect- 
ing a  sound  building  there  is  something  to  be  considered 
besides  the  foundation,  for  we  must  consider  the  mutual 
relation  of  the  parts  which  together  rest  upon  that 
foundation.  There  are  the  interlocking  beams  and 
stones  and  bricks.  So  it  is  in  the  world  of  society. 
There  is  the  first  relation  to  God,  but  there  is  also  the 
relation  of  the  individual  to  his  fellow  man.  The  father- 
hood of  God  involves  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

Our  relation  to  God  instantly  affects  our  relation  to 
men.  We  cannot  be  rightly  related  to  God  without  be- 
coming rightly  related  to  men.  In  the  parable  of  the 
Judgment,  Jesus  says  :  ''Then  shall  the  King  say  unto 
them  on  his  right  hand.  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father, 
inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world :  for  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  to 
eat;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink;  I  was  a 
stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me; 
I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me;  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye 

147 


148  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

came  unto  me.  .  .  .  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Inas- 
much as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these  my  brethren,  even 
these  least,  ye  did  it  unto  me."  So  James  wrote, 
''Pure  reUgion  and  undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father 
is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their 
affliction,  and  to  keep  oneself  unspotted  from  the 
world." 

Clearly  then,  a  right  relation  to  God,  which  is  religion, 
involves  also  a  right  relation  to  man,  which  is  ethics. 
The  Commandments,  which  state  for  us  the  laws  of 
life,  therefore  treat  of  our  relation  to  others.  The 
primary  law  of  life  in  our  relation  to  others  is  that  given 
in  the  Sixth  Commandment,  namely,  the  law  of  respect 
for  life. 

This  Commandment  places  the  emphasis  where  it  be- 
longs. Life  is  the  most  precious  possession  we  have, 
''for  what  shall  a  man  be  profited,  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world,  and  forfeit  his  life?" 

In  life  is  involved  everything  else.  The  whole  plant 
lies  in  the  germ  of  the  seed.  From  that  seed  develops 
foliage,  blossom,  flower,  and  fragrance.  When  one 
destroys  an  acorn  he  destroys  the  oak  which  might 
have  been.  So  when  a  man  takes  the  life  of  his  fellow 
man  he  robs  that  man  of  all  his  powers  and  all  his 
possessions,  so  far  as  this  world  is  concerned. 

Think  of  the  marvelous  powers  man  possesses.  His 
sense  of  sight  enables  him  to  see  all  the  forms  and  colors 
of  the  world  about  him,  the  beauties  of  nature  and  of 
art.  His  sense  of  hearing  enables  him  to  hear  the 
sounds  of  earth,  the  voices  of  friends,  the  songs  of  the 
birds,  the  harmonies  of  music.  His  sense  of  touch 
brings  to  him  the  sensation  of  the  firmness  of  the  earth 
to  which  he  can  with  confidence  trust  his  weight,  the 


THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  LIFE  149 

warmth  of  the  sun,  the  refreshmg  breath  of  the  cooKng 
breeze,  the  handclasp  of  friendship.  The  sense  of  taste 
makes  dehghtful  the  fruits  of  the  orchard  and  the 
products  of  field  and  garden.  The  sense  of  smell  brings 
to  man  the  fragrance  of  the  flowers.  But  it  is  life  that 
makes  all  these  senses  possible.  Destroy  life  and  you 
destroy  for  man  the  whole  physical  world  in  which  he 
lives. 

Life  makes  possible  the  development  of  all  man's 
powers,  just  as  the  life  germ  in  the  acorn  makes  possible 
the  development  of  the  mighty  oak.  The  infant  pos- 
sesses the  capacity  for  physical  development,  so  that, 
with  proper  nourishment  and  exercise,  it  may  develop 
a  strong  and  symmetrical  body.  The  infant  possesses 
also  a  capacity  for  mental  development  and  by  educa- 
tion may  develop  a  great  mind.  In  the  living  infant 
lies  the  germ  of  a  moral  nature  which  through  proper 
moral  environment  without  and  spiritual  development 
from  within,  may  grow  into  that  most  precious  pos- 
session which  we  call  character. 

Life  is  the  secret  of  all  this  development.  If  life  is 
taken,  the  body  ceases  to  grow,  the  mind,  so  far  as  this 
world  is  concerned,  ceases  to  develop,  and  character 
enters  eternity  arrested.  When  the  Sixth  Command- 
ment guards  life  by  declaring,  ''Thou  shalt  not  kill," 
it  throws  its  protection  about  man's  great  treasure 
house  of  all  his  future  possibilities.  The  framers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  therefore  declared  ''that 
all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  inahenable  rights;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness."  "Life"  is  the  capacity  for  development, 
"liberty"   is  the  opportunity  for  development,   and 


150  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

''happiness"  is  the  experience  which  accompanies  true 
development. 

The  Sixth  Commandment  forbids  more  than  the 
sudden  or  slow  crushing  out  of  life;  it  forbids  the 
hampering  of  life  in  its  full  and  true  development.  To 
every  child  and  adult  belongs  the  right  to  the  full  de- 
velopment of  life.  To  have  any  share  in  permitting 
conditions  which  hamper  the  physical  development  of 
the  child  or  an  environment  which  robs  man  or  woman 
of  physical  well-being,  is  to  break  this  Commandment. 
To  keep  anyone  in  ignorance  or  to  hamper  his  mental 
development  is  really  robbing  him  of  life.  And,  es- 
pecially, to  do  anything  or  to  permit  any  conditions 
which  warp  or  dwarf  the  soul  is  to  break  this  funda- 
mental law  of  respect  for  life.  We  can  attain  our  God- 
given  rights  only  when  we  are  given  opportunity  to 
develop  fully  the  powers  with  which  God  endowed  us 
when  he  gave  us  life,  and  we  have  no  right  to  do  any- 
thing or  to  leave  anything  undone  that  will  hamper  the 
fullest  development" of  the  life  of  others. 

This  law  does  not  turn  liberty  into  license.  No  life 
can  claim  opportunity  for  development  if  that  develop- 
ment will  interfere  with  the  development  of  the  life  of 
others.  Any  man's  rights  end  where  his  neighbor's 
rights  begin.  God  does  not  give  two  titles  to  the  same 
property.  ''Live  and  let  live,"  is  a  modern  phrasing 
of  this  ancient  law  of  life.  We  have  no  right  to  do  any- 
thing which  will  hamper  the  full  development  of  our 
own  lives  or  the  lives  of  others.    "Thou  shalt  not  kill. " 

The  Christian  does  not  limit  the  thought  of  life's 
possibilities  to  this  world.  Man  is  immortal  and  the 
soul,  as  the  tenant  of  the  body,  through  the  experiences 
while  in  the  body  is  being  fitted  for  the  eternal  world. 


THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  LIFE  151 

The  opportunities  of  this  Hfe,  therefore,  take  on  new 
meaning.  We  dare  not  reason  that  because  a  Hfe  has 
many  hardships  it  is  not  worth  living.  The  infant's 
cries  are  its  first  exercise.  When  the  infant  is  teething, 
does  one  reason  that  it  is  not  worth  while  for  the  infant 
to  live  and  suffer?  The  teething  process  itself  is  pre- 
paring the  child  for  its  place  in  the  world. 

Paul  knew  what  it  was  to  suffer  in  the  flesh,  but  he 
wrote,  "For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  for  the  mo- 
ment, worketh  for  us  more  and  more  exceedingly  an 
eternal  weight  of  glory. "  Who  knows  the  extent  of  the 
influence  of  the  life  in  the  body  upon  the  immortal 
soul?  Who  can  tell  of  how  much  we  should  rob  one  if 
we  should  prematurely  drive  the  soul  tenant  from  its 
house  of  flesh!  Because  only  God  knows  how  man's 
experiences  in  the  flesh  work  out  an  eternal  weight  of 
glory  for  the  soul,  he  alone  can  exercise  the  rights  of 
the  Sovereign  of  life.  As  long  as  God  spares  life,  life  in 
the  flesh  must  be  considered  a  part  of  the  development 
of  the  soul,  and  no  man  has  the  right  to  rob  anyone  of 
the  influence  of  life  in  the  body  upon  the  immortal  soul. 
''Thou  Shalt  not  kill." 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  THE  HOME 
"Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."     Ex.  20:  14. 

If  the  Ten  Commandments  give  the  laws  of  Kfe  in 
their  logical  order  and  in  the  order  of  their  importance, 
as  we  have  found  reason  to  believe  is  the  case,  then  we 
must  conclude  that  next  in  importance  to  life  itself  God 
places  the  family,  or  the  home,  for  the  Seventh  Com- 
mandment deals  with  the  marriage  relation  which  is  the 
fundamental  relation  of  the  home.  Next  to  the  law  of 
respect  for  life,  God  places  the  law  of  respect  for  the 
home.  The  Sixth  Commandment  deals  with  the  life  of 
the  individual;  the  Seventh  Commandment  deals  with 
the  life  of  the  group,  or  family. 

In  ancient  Israel  the  family  was  given  high  place. 
The  family  was  the  unit  of  society.  While  emphasizing 
the  importance  and  place  and  rights  and  obligations 
of  the  individual,  Christianity  also  conceives  of  society 
and  the  Church  as  made  up  of  families.  ''The  universal 
Church  consists  of  those  persons,  in  every  nation,  to- 
gether with  their  children,  who  make  profession  of  the 
holy  religion  of  Christ,  and  of  submission  to  his  laws, " 
says  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
Catechism  lays  stress  upon  the  family,  in  the  words, 
''Baptism  is  not  to  be  administered  to  any  that  are  out 
of  the  visible  Church,  till  they  profess  their  faith  in 
Christ,  and  obedience  to  him ;  but  the  infants  of  such  as 
are  members  of  the  visible  Church,  are  to  be  baptized. " 

There  are  two  reasons  why  respect  for  the  obligations 
152 


THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  THE  HOME   153 

of  marriage,  the  fundamental  relation  of  the  family  and 
the  home,  should  be  considered  next  to  the  duty  of  re- 
specting life  itself.  The  first  reason  is  that  life  has  its 
origin  in  the  home  and  springs  out  of  the  home's 
primary  relation,  that  of  husband  and  wife.  How  can 
we  respect  life  itself  if  we  do  not  likewise  respect  that 
sacred  relation  out  of  which  life  springs? 

While  the  extent  of  the  influence  of  heredity  is  de- 
bated, and  there  is  not  unanimity  of  opinion  concerning 
the  extent  to  which  character  may  be  passed  on  from 
parent  to  offspring  through  heredity,  there  is  no  doubt 
anywhere  that  the  character  of  the  parent  does  pro- 
foundly influence  the  character  of  the  child.  "After 
their  kind"  is  the  teaching  of  Scripture  and  the  teaching 
of  science.  If,  therefore,  we  are  to  guard  the  sanctity  of 
life  itself  we  must  guard  the  sanctity  of  that  relation  out 
of  which  life  springs. 

A  second  reason  why  the  law  of  respect  for  the  home 
follows  the  law  of  respect  for  life  itself,  is  that  the  home 
is  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  influences  which  bear 
upon  the  developing  life  of  the  child.  There  is  more 
than  sentiment  in  the  old  saying  that  the  hand  that 
rocks  the  cradle  rules  the  world.  First  impressions  are 
the  deepest,  and  the  plastic  and  developing  life  of  the 
child  receives  its  first  impressions  in  the  home.  The 
language  which  the  child  speaks  is  the  language  of  the 
home.  In  our  day  educators  are  coming  to  see  again 
the  fact  that  the  hope  of  the  nation  and  of  the  Church 
and  of  the  world  is  the  home,  with  its  profound  influence 
upon  life  and  character.  Yet,  back  yonder  when  Israel 
was  in  her  infancy,  God  proclaimed,  next  to  the  sacred- 
ness  of  life  itself,  the  sacredness  of  the  home  and  the 
home's  primary  relationship — marriage. 


154  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

The  true  home  depends,  so  far  as  human  relations  are 
concerned,  upon  the  love  and  the  loyalty  of  husband 
and  wife.  The  moral  atmosphere  which  the  child  should 
breathe  can  be  maintained  in  the  home  only  by  the 
mutual  love  and  loyalty  of  the  parents. 

But  when  must  this  loyalty  of  husband  and  wife  begin? 
Do  the  obligations  which  marriage  involves  begin  with 
the  marriage  ceremony?  Fitness  for  the  marriage  re- 
lation, and  therefore  for  the  relationships  of  the  home, 
depends  upon  the  whole  life.  It  is  in  the  sacred  relations 
of  the  home  that  one  reaps  the  rewards  of  the  past's 
noble  living.  It  is  in  the  relationships  of  the  home  that 
oneself  and  others  suffer  the  penalty  of  past  dishonor. 

The  Seventh  Commandment  demands  loyalty,  from 
earliest  infancy,  to  the  highest  ideals  of  the  home. 
Every  boy  should  look  upon  himself  as  a  prospective 
husband  and  father,  and  should  live  his  life  with  the 
purpose  of  being  true  to  the  highest  Christian  ideals  for 
the  home.  Every  girl  should  look  upon  herself  as  a 
prospective  wife  and  mother  and  should  live  her  life 
with  the  purpose  of  being  true  to  the  highest  Christian 
ideals  of  wife  and  mother. 

Only  as  we  guard  to  the  utmost  the  fundamental  re- 
lationship of  the  home  can  we  guard  life  itself  for  the 
next  generation. 

Next  to  the  Christian  faith  itself,  nothing  is  more 
worthy  of  heroic  sacrifice  than  the  home.  "For  hearth 
and  home"  is  a  motto  to  which  God  himself  has  given 
his  approval  in  the  Ten  Commandments. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  PROPERTY 

"Thou  shalt  not  steal."     Ex.  20  :  15. 

The  life  which  has  its  origin  in  the  home,  and  which 
is  developed  in  the  home  and  in  the  wider  environment 
of  society,  dwells  in  the  body  of  flesh.  Because  the  im- 
mortal life  manifests  itself  in  and  through  a  material 
body  and  is  influenced  in  turn  by  the  forces  which  reach 
it  through  the  material  body  in  which  it  dwells,  the 
subject  of  property  assumes  importance  even  for  those 
who  emphasize  the  fact  that  their  citizenship  is  in 
heaven.  Others  who  give  material  possessions  first 
place  in  their  lives  feel  that  the  rights  of  property  are  as 
important  as  life  itself.  In  the  next  world,  as  a  world  of 
spirit,  ^'neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  consume,  and  .  . 
thieves  do  not  break  through  nor  steal. "  Our  greatest 
treasures,  therefore,  are  the  treasures  of  character  which 
will  ultimately  make  one  independent  of  material  pos- 
sessions that  perish.  But  in  this  world  in  which  man 
has  his  physical  relationships,  the  things  that  belong  to 
him  have  an  important  place.  We  have,  therefore,  for 
all  men,  the  law  of  respect  for  property.  Property  has 
been  defined  as  "anything  that  may  be  owned." 

It  may  be  granted  that  for  happiness  we  often  depend 
too  much  upon  possessions  rather  than  upon  the  heart; 
but  possessions,  even  to  the  spiritually  minded,  are 
important  because  of  life's  relationship  to  things  and 
because  of  the  influence  of  things  upon  life.  The  apostle 
John,  who  certainly  did  not  overemphasize  the  material 

155 


156  OUR  REASONABLE  FATIH 

world,  wrote  in  his  first  Epistle,  ''But  whoso  hath  the 
world's  goods,  and  beholdeth  his  brother  in  need,  and 
shutteth  up  his  compassion  from  him,  how  doth  the 
love  of  God  abide  in  him?" 

Because  we  can  say  "I,"  we  should  also  be  able  to 
say  ''my."  Consciousness  of  self  relates  us  to  material 
things  and  so  we  have  the  right  to  claim  those  things 
which  concern  us  and  our  lives.  "I"  and  "my"  go  to- 
gether. But  the  moment  we  can  say  "you, "  because  we 
are  conscious  of  the  existence  of  another  personality,  we 
must  also  learn  to  say  "yours, "  for  that  second  person- 
alty has  the  right  of  ownership  of  those  things  which 
concern  his  life.  And  when  we  can  say  "he"  we  must 
learn  also  to  say  "his."  We  can  claim  ownership  for 
ourselves  only  when  we  are  ready  to  recognize  the  owner- 
ship of  others.  So  we  have  the  law  of  respect  for  that 
which  belongs  to  others.  This  simple  law,  "Thou  shalt 
not  steal, "  is  far-reaching. 

There  are  many  ways  of  taking  what  belongs  to  an- 
other. We  may  by  superior  strength  wrest  it  from  his 
grasp  and  take  it  for  ourselves.  This  is  plain  stealing. 
Or  we  may  take  it  by  stealth  under  cover  of  darkness  or 
when  the  owner  is  unconscious  in  sleep.  This  also  is 
plain  stealing.  Or  we  may  take  it  by  deception,  leaving 
the  owner  no  more  aware  of  his  loss  than  if  we  had 
robbed  him  in  the  dark  or  while  he  slept.  This,  likewise, 
is  just  plain  stealing.  Or  by  a  legal  process  we  may  take 
what  belongs  to  another;  but  if  the  thing  we  take,  even 
by  a  legal  process,  really  belongs  to  him  from  whom  we 
take  it,  this  also  is  plain  stealing.  The  real  question  is, 
"To  whom  does  the  thing  taken  belong?"  Whatever 
the  process  or  method  employed,  if  that  thing  belongs 
to  another  the  act  by  which  it  is  taken  is  stealing. 


THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  PROPERTY       157 

The  transactions  of  business  which  constitute  the 
process  of  exchanging  property  afford  enticing  oppor- 
tunities to  disregard  the  law  of  respect  for  property. 
The  two  properties  which  are  exchanged  are  supposed  to 
be  of  equal  value,  whether  the  exchange  is  by  barter  or 
by  purchase  with  money.  But  the  buyer  or  the  seller 
may  steal  by  deceit.  He  may  exchange  adulterated 
goods  for  the  price  of  the  pure  article.  He  may  misrep- 
resent quality  or  grade,  and  thus  take  from  the  pur- 
chaser more  than  the  property  exchanged  warrants. 
He  may  give  short  measure  and  in  the  process  of  ex- 
change keep  for  himself  something  which  really  belongs 
to  the  other,  and  thus  disregard  the  law  of  ownership. 
The  workman  sells  his  time  to  his  employer.  If  he  does 
not  give  the  full  measure  of  time  purchased,  he  is  steal- 
ing, for  he  walks  off  with  the  purchase  price  of  time  in 
his  pocket  and  has  not  left  the  equivalent  of  time  as  the 
possession  of  him  who  hired  him.  The  man  who  sells  his 
skill  but  does  not  give  the  skill  he  agreed  to  exchange  for 
wages  has  broken  the  law  of  respect  for  property,  for  his 
skill,  exchanged  for  wages,  belongs  to  the  purchaser  of  it. 

This  important  law  of  life  would  be  observed  with 
less  difficulty  and  less  confusion  if  we  could  keep  in 
mind  the  significance  of  that  word,  '' belongs. "  As  soon 
as  anything  belongs  to  another  it  no  longer  belongs  to 
us,  and  to  keep  it  is  breaking  the  law  of  respect  for 
property  which  God  declared  fundamental  to  a  well- 
ordered  society,  when  he  said,  ''Thou  shalt  not  steal." 

We  have  no  right  to  take  from  God  what  belongs  to 
him.  We  have  no  right  to  take  from  ourselves  what  be- 
longs to  us.  We  have  no  right  to  take  from  others  what 
belongs  to  others.  "Thou  shalt  not  steal"  applies 
alike  to  the  proprietorship  of  God,  of  ourselves,  and  of 
our  neighbor. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  TRUTH 

"  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor."  Ex. 
20  :  16. 

God 's  world  is  a  world  of  reality.  The  spiritual  world 
is  a  world  of  spiritual  reality,  and,  likewise,  the  ma- 
terial world  is  a  world  of  material  reality.  Because  God 's 
world  is  a  world  of  reality  both  spiritual  and  material, 
his  world  is  a  world  of  truth.  If  all  that  we  had  in  the 
world  were  our  impressions,  without  any  facts  back  of 
those  impressions  as  their  true  cause,  we  should  not 
need  to  give  a  second  thought  to  truth,  but  because  we 
live  in  a  world  of  spiritual  and  material  facts  and  reali- 
ties truth  assumes  great  importance. 

The  God  of  reality  is  the  God  of  truth.  He  is  a  God 
who  cannot  lie.  So  the  writer  of  The  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  tells  us  that  God  in  making  his  covenant  with 
Abraham  swore  by  himself:  ^'Wherein  God,  being 
minded  to  show  more  abundantly  unto  the  heirs  of  the 
promise  the  immutability  of  his  counsel,  interposed 
with  an  oath;  that  by  two  immutable  things,  in  which 
it  is  impossible  for  God  to  lie,  we  may  have  a  strong  en- 
couragement. "  The  promise  of  the  God  of  truth,  con- 
firmed by  the  oath  of  the  God  of  truth,  establishes  his 
covenant  as  an  unchanging  and  eternal  reality. 

Because  God  is  a  God  of  reality  and  a  God  of  truth, 
he  insists  upon  respect  for  truth  as  one  of  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  his  world.  In  the  description  of  God's 
Kingdom  in  Bevelation,  we  read,  "And  there  shall  in  no 

158 


THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  TRUTH  159 

wise  enter  into  it  anything  unclean,  or  he  that  maketh 
an  abomination  and  a  he,"  and  '' Without  are  the  dogs, 
and  the  sorcerers,  and  the  fornicators,  and  the  murder- 
ers, and  the  idolaters,  and  every  one  that  loveth  and 
maketh  a  lie."  The  liar,  who  does  not  heed  the  law  of 
respect  for  truth,  belongs  in  the  same  class  with  those 
who  do  not  keep  the  law  of  respect  for  life,  or  the  law  of 
respect  for  the  home,  or  the  law  of  the  service  of  God 
only,  or  the  law  of  the  service  of  God  spiritually. 

The  Ninth  Commandment,  in  expressing  the  law  of 
respect  for  truth,  states  this  law  in  terms  similar  to  the 
other  laws  which  we  have  considered.  We  have  found 
that  the  Commandments  relate  everything  to  life  and 
personality.  Home  must  be  guarded  because  of  the  re- 
lation of  the  home  to  life  and  its  development.  Prop- 
erty is  to  be  respected  because  possessions  have  their 
relation  to  and  influence  upon  life  or  personality.  So 
in  this  Ninth  Commandment,  which  reveals  the  law  of 
respect  for  truth,  emphasis  is  laid  upon  truth  as  it  is  re- 
lated to  life.  Thoughtful  readers  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments have  been  surprised  that  there  is  no  command- 
ment which  says  simply,  ''Thou  shalt  not  lie."  But 
the  Ninth  Commandment,  which  declares,  ''Thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor," 
says  in  the  most  vital  way,  "Thou  shalt  not  lie,"  for 
truth  and  falsehood  have  no  meaning  except  as  they  are 
related  to  life  and  personality.  Truth  is  important  be- 
cause truth  influences  life.  The  reason  lying  and  mis- 
representation and  falsehood  are  so  terrible  is  that  they 
affect  ourselves  and  our  neighbors. 

Would  there  be  any  difference  between  white  and 
black  if  there  were  no  sight?  What  difference  does 
white  or  black  make  to  the  blind?    What  difference  is 


160  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

there  between  a  true  statement  and  a  false  statement  if 
there  be  no  mind  to  perceive  it,  no  man  to  hear  it,  and 
no  Hfe  to  be  influenced  by  it?  Truth  must  be  respected 
because  lives  are  affected  by  the  truth. 

There  would  be  no  harm  in  adulterating  food  if  there 
were  no  one  to  eat  it.  There  would  be  no  harm  in  selling 
mixed  material  as  all  wool  if  there  were  no  one  to  wear 
it.  No  harm  would  be  done  by  saying  that  three  times 
ten  make  twenty-five  if  there  were  no  person  to  be  de- 
ceived by  this  misrepresentation  of  fact.  There  would 
be  no  harm  in  false  religion  if  there  were  no  souls  to  be 
misled  by  its  teachings.  Falsehood  and  lying  and  mis- 
representation owe  their  importance  to  their  relation  to 
life  and  personality.  So  the  Commandment  reads, 
^'Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neigh- 
bor" We  must  not  lie  or  misrepresent  because  lying 
and  misrepresentation  will  injure  others. 

The  man  who  misrepresents  facts  is  guilty  of  a  great 
crime  because  facts  have  a  vital  relation  to  life.  It 
would  not  be  serious  to  hold  and  to  teach  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  disease  if  there  were  no  disease  germs, 
but  because  disease  germs  enter  the  human  body  and 
cause  disease  and  imperil  life,  to  deny  the  existence  of 
disease  germs  and  their  consequences  may  result  in  an 
epidemic  and  in  frightful  loss  of  life.  Inasmuch  as  God 
has  built  his  world  upon  truth,  when  we  utter  falsehood 
we  are  bound  to  do  injury  to  others.  Our  falsehood  may 
injure  their  bodies,  or  their  minds,  or  their  souls. 

All  the  sciences  are  based  upon  truth.  Astronomy  is 
built  upon  the  facts  of  the  stars.  Physics  depends  upon 
the  facts  of  the  physical  world.  Physiology  is  based 
upon  facts  of  the  body.  Optics  rests  upon  the  facts  of 
light.     The  science  of  government  is  based  upon  the 


THE  LAW  OF  RESPECT  FOR  TRUTH  161 

facts  of  human  relationships.  PoHtical  economy  is 
concerned  with  the  facts  of  business.  The  science  of 
medicine  depends  upon  the  facts  of  7nateria  medica 
and  the  reactions  of  the  human  body.  Philosophy 
handles  the  facts  of  experience.  Religion  is  concerned 
with  the  facts  of  God  and  man.  The  whole  fabric  of  our 
world  in  which  we  live  depends  upon  truth.  In  a  world 
where  truth  is  thus  enthroned,  to  misrepresent  a  fact  is 
high  treason.  The  psalmist  must  have  had  some  such 
thought  in  mind  when  he  wrote : 

"Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  Jehovah? 
And  who  shall  stand  in  his  holy  place? 
He  that  hath  clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart; 
Who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  falsehood, 
And  hath  not  sworn  deceitfully." 

Or  again: 

"Jehovah,  who  shall  sojourn  in  thy  tabernacle? 
Who  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill? 

He  that  walketh  uprightly,  and  worketh  righteousness, 
And  speaketh  truth  in  his  heart; 
He  that  slandereth  not  with  his  tongue, 
Nor  doeth  evil  to  his  friend, 
Nor  taketh  up  a  reproach  against  his  neighbor; 
In  whose  eyes  a  reprobate  is  despised. 
But  who  honoreth  them  that  fear  Jehovah; 
He  that  sweareth  to  his  own  hurt,  and  changeth  not." 

The  scientist  who  falsifies  his  facts  becomes  an  out- 
cast from  the  world  of  science.  The  business  man  who 
misrepresents  his  goods  becomes  an  outcast  from  the 
world  of  business.  The  witncvss  who  gives  false  testi- 
mony is  forever  discredited  as  a  witness.  The  slanderer 
is  despised.  All  this  is  because  truth  is  fundamental  to 
all  the  relationships  of  life.  We  need  not  be  surprised 
11 


162  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

therefore  that  when  God  was  giving  to  the  people  of 
Israel  the  Commandments  on  which  their  life  was  to  be 
built,  he  revealed  this  fundamental  law  of  respect  for 
truth — ''Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy 
neighbor. " 

God's  world  and  God's  Kingdom  are  founded  upon 
truth.  "And  the  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither 
of  the  moon,  to  shine  upon  it:  for  the  glory  of  God  did 
lighten  it,  and  the  lamp  thereof  is  the  Lamb.  And  the 
nations  shall  walk  amidst  the  light  thereof:  and  the  kings 
of  the  earth  bring  their  glory  into  it.  And  the  gates 
thereof  shall  in  no  wise  be  shut  by  day  (for  there  shall 
be  no  night  there):  and  they  shall  bring  the  glory 
and  the  honor  of  the  nations  into  it:  and  there  shall  in 
no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  unclean,  or  he  that 
maketh  an  abomination  and  a  lie." 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  LAW  OF  CONTROL  OF  DESIRES 

"Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  house,  thou  shalt  not 
covet  thy  neighbor's  wife,  nor  his  man-servant,  nor  his  maid- 
servant, nor  his  ox,  nor  his  ass,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  neigh- 
bor's."   Ex.  20 :  17. 

Why  did  God  give  a  Tenth  Commandment  to  his 
ancient  people  Israel?  Had  he  not  in  the  nine  Com- 
mandments already  proclaimed  the  whole  moral  law? 
What  other  relation  to  one's  fellow  man  can  be  sus- 
tained besides  those  already  considered?  When  we  re- 
spect our  neighbor's  life,  and  his  home,  and  his  pos- 
sessions, and  the  truth  which  concerns  him,  what  more 
can  we  do?  Have  we  not  already  considered  man's 
whole  duty  to  man?  And  yet  God  gave  to  Israel  the 
Tenth  Commandment. 

There  is  reason  indeed  for  this  last  Commandment  of 
the  Ten.  Just  as  the  First  Commandment,  ''Thou  shalt 
have  no  other  gods  before  me,"  introduces  the  rest  of 
the  Commandments  and  proclaims  the  primary  truth 
and  duty  which  underlies  all  the  Commandments,  so 
the  Tenth  Commandment,  ''Thou  shalt  not  covet," 
concludes  the  statement  of  man 's  duty  to  man  by  tell- 
ing how  these  Commandments  can  be  kept.  The 
Tenth  Commandment  is  essential  to  those  which  pre- 
cede it,  for  obedience  to  the  laws  of  life  must  begin  in  the 
heart.    In  The  Proverbs  we  read: 

"Keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence; 
For  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life." 
163 


164  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

Conduct  springs  from  the  heart;  deeds  are  the  ex- 
pression of  desires.  We  can  keep  from  doing  wrong  only 
if  we  curb  the  wrong  desires  which  stir  within  the  soul. 
Therefore  God  sought  to  write  his  laws  of  life  upon  the 
heart.  Through  Jeremiah  the  prophet  he  said,  "I  will 
put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts,  and  in  their  heart  will 
I  write  it ;  and  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my 
people."  But  this  same  truth  God  had  long  before 
endeavored  to  teach  Israel  when  he  gave  them  his 
Commandments,  for  he  said,  ''Thou  shalt  not  covet." 
The  law  must  be  written  in  the  heart.  The  secret  of 
keeping  the  laws  of  life  is  the  control  of  desires. 

The  Tenth  Commandment,  we  soon  discover,  reverts 
to  the  Commandments  which  precede  it.  The  Sixth 
Commandment  teaches  the  law  of  respect  for  life,  and 
so  the  Tenth  Commandment  commands  the  control  of 
the  desire  to  take  from  another  his  house,  the  environ- 
ment of  his  life,  the  surroundings  in  which  he  lives  and 
moves.  "Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife," 
the  Tenth  Commandment  continues — that  is,  no  desires 
shall  be  harbored  which  would  lead  one  to  disregard 
the  integrity  of  his  neighbor's  home.  The  Eighth 
Commandment  teaches  respect  for  property,  so  the 
Tenth  Commandment  forbids  any  wrong  desire  in  the 
heart  concerning  a  man's  business  ("nor  his  man-serv- 
ant, nor  his  maid-servant,"  who  are  his  employees),  or 
his  machinery  ("nor  his  ox,  nor  his  ass"),  or  concerning 
his  possessions  ("nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor's"). 

The  Tenth  Commandment  makes  clear  the  law  of 
control  of  desires,  a  great  principle  which  experience  has 
confirmed.  Leaders  in  the  business  world  declare  that 
what  is  needed  if  business  is  to  prosper,  is  character. 
Judges  who  deal  with  lawbreakers  and  are  concerned 


THE  LAW  OF  CONTROL  OF  DESIRES  165 

with  the  enforcement  of  law,  unite  in  saying  that  what 
society  needs  is  character.  Patriots  and  statesmen  who 
face  the  problems  of  government  urge  that  what  our 
country  needs  is  citizens  and  officeholders  with 
character.  Educators  in  discussing  the  aim  in  education 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  chief  purpose  of  educa- 
tion is  to  produce  character.  Paul  as  a  religious  teacher 
declared  that  truth  is  '' according  to  godliness";  the 
purpose  of  religion  is  to  develop  character,  or  likeness  to 
God.  But  character,  after  all,  is  a  synonym  for  the 
desires  of  the  heart.  What  a  man  desires  reveals  what 
he  is.  The  world's  great  need  is  men  and  women  who 
are  controlled  by  right  desires.  ''The  good  man  out  of 
the  good  treasure  of  his  heart  bringeth  forth  that  which 
is  good;  and  the  evil  man  out  of  the  evil  treasure  bringeth 
forth  that  which  is  evil."  God  made  known  this  great 
truth  to  ancient  Israel  when  he  taught  them  that  the 
secret  of  the  keeping  of  all  the  laws  of  life  is  obedience  to 
the  law  of  control  of  desires.    ''Thou  shalt  not  covet." 

When  Jesus,  therefore,  was  asked,  "What  command- 
ment is  the  first  of  all?"  he  answered,  "The  first  is, 
Hear,  O  Israel ;  The  Lord  our  God,  the  Lord  is  one :  and 
thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy 
strength.  The  second  is  this.  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.  There  is  none  other  commandment 
greater  than  these."  And  to  his  disciples,  he  said,  "If 
ye  love  me,  ye  will  keep  my  commandments. " 

A  right  heart  is  the  secret  of  right  conduct,  therefore 
God  made  the  final  Commandment  of  the  Ten  a  declara- 
tion of  the  law  of  control  of  desires.  For  if  we  keep  our 
hearts  with  diHgence,  the  issues  of  our  lives  will  take 
care  of  themselves.    "Thou  shalt  not  covet." 


CHAPTER    XII 
THE  LAW  AND  GRACE 

According  to  Socrates,  the  Greek  philosopher,  knowl- 
edge is  virtue.  This  man,  in  whose  life  the  inner  voice 
of  conscience  was  supreme,  thought  that  men  needed 
only  to  know  the  truth  in  order  to  do  the  right.  But 
experience  has  shown  that  men  need  something  besides 
a  knowledge  of  duty  in  order  that  they  may  live  as  they 
should.  We  cannot  solve  the  problem  of  vice  by  leg- 
islation, although  legislation  has  its  place  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  vice.  Neither  is  education  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  sin,  although  education  has  its  place  in 
the  development  of  character.  To  recognize,  therefore, 
the  fact  that  the  Ten  Commandments  reveal  the  true 
laws  of  life  does  not  mean  to  believe  that  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments are  themselves  the  solution  of  the  world's 
problems.  Our  duty  to  the  world  is  not  done  when  these 
laws  of  life  have  been  taught  even  to  all  the  world. 

Out  of  his  own  rich  experience,  and  supported  by  the 
experience  of  his  nation  which  had  inherited  these  laws, 
Paul  said  that  there  was  something  that  ''the  law  could 
not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh.''  The 
law  is  illuminating,  but  powerless.  Therefore  we  have 
the  gospel  with  its  message  of  the  grace  of  God.  *'  God, 
sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh  and 
for  sin,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh :  that  the  ordinance 
of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after 
the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit." 

The  chart  is  important  for  the  mariner.  He  cannot 
166 


THE  LAW  AND  GRACE  167 

plan  his  voyage  and  guide  his  ship  without  his  chart. 
But  the  chart  cannot  propel  the  ship.  The  law  is  the 
chart  by  which  we  are  to  guide  our  lives.  It  points  out 
the  shoals  and  the  rocks  upon  which  lives  have  been 
wrecked,  and  it  indicates  the  channels  through  which 
Uves  have  been  guided  in  safety.  But  the  law  does  not 
provide  power  to  live  according  to  its  directions.  The 
road  chart  is  invaluable  for  the  motorist.  It  shows  him 
the  way  to  his  destination,  ^ut  the  road  map  is  not 
a  substitute  for  gasoline  to  drive  his  car.  The  Ten  Com- 
mandments are  the  guide  to  right  living,  but  they  do  not 
enable  us  to  live  according  to  their  directions.  The 
gospel,  however,  is  God's  message  of  power,  for  the 
gospel  ''is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every 
one  that  believeth."  "Yet  knowing  that  a  man  is  not 
justified  by  the  works  of  the  law  but  through  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ,  even  we  believed  on  Christ  Jesus, 
that  we  may  be  justified  by  faith  in  Christ,  and  not 
by  the  works  of  the  law:  because  by  the  works  of  the 
law  shall  no  flesh  be  justified."  We  are  "  saved  by  grace." 
The  contrast  between  the  law  and  grace  sometimes 
leads  to  confusion.  It  has  been  said,  for  example, 
that  because  Christians  are  under  grace  they  are  free 
from  the  law,  and  that  therefore  they  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  Ten  Commandments.  But  when  did 
Jesus — and  therefore  Christianity — ever  repudiate  the 
Ten  Commandments?  If  the  Commandments  teach 
fundamental  laws  of  life,  as  we  have  found  that  they 
do,  how  could  they  be  set  aside?  Not  one  of  them  can 
be  spared  from  the  Christian's  life  or  from  Christian 
society.  They  are  as  true  to-day  as  they  were  when 
they  were  first  proclaimed.  Being  "under  grace  "does 
not  make  the  laws  of  life  inoperative. 


168  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

When  the  New  Testament  teaches  that  "love 
.  .  .  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  law,"  it  does  not 
teach  that  the  Ten  Commandments  are  no  longer  the 
statement  of  how  we  ought  to  live;  it  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  love  is  the  only  motive  strong  enough  to  lead 
us  to  live  according  to  the  Commandments.  A  right 
heart  is  not  a  substitute  for  a  knowledge  of  right. 
Emotion  cannot  take  the  place  of  instruction.  The 
desire  to  heal  disease  in  order  to  prevent  suffering  does 
not  render  unnecessary  a  course  in  medicine.  Nor 
does  the  noble  purpose  to  build  an  orphanage  to  shelter 
homeless  children  make  the  philanthropist  an  archi- 
tect and  engineer.  Parental  love  alone  does  not  equip 
a  mother  to  care  for  her  child.  Neither  is  the  love  of 
Christ  a  substitute  for  a  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong. 
There  may  be  *'a  zeal  for  God,  but  not  according  to 
knowledge."  True  converts  need  to  be  taught  God's 
laws  of  life. 

The  Commandments  serve  two  important  purposes. 
They  show  us  how  to  live  and  they  show  us  how  far 
short  we  have  fallen  of  living  as  we  should.  So  Paul 
said  that  the  law  is  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  us  to  Christ. 
He  had  in  mind  the  pedagogue  of  the  ancient  Greeks 
whose  duty  it  was  to  take  the  pupil  to  his  teacher. 
The  law,  by  showing  us  how  far  short  we  come  of  living 
up  to  the  requirements  of  God,  creates  a  sense  of  need 
of  a  Saviour.  Thus  the  law  reveals  our  twofold  need — 
the  need  of  pardon  for  past  disobedience  and  the  need 
of  strength  for  future  obedience.  In  contrast  to  the 
law,  the  gospel  offers  this  pardon  for  sin  and  this 
strength  for  living.  Thus  in  the  law  we  find  guidance, 
and  in  grace  find  pardon  and  power.  ''So  that  the  law 
is  holy,  and  the  commandment  holy,  and  righteous, 


THE  LAW  AND  GRACE  169 

and  good.  .  .  .  For  we  know  that  the  law  is  spir- 
itual: but  I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin.  For  that  which 
I  do  I  know  not :  for  not  what  I  would,  that  do  I  prac- 
tise; but  what  I  hate,  that  I  do.  But  if  what  I  would 
not,  that  I  do,  I  consent  unto  the  law  that  it  is  good. 
.  .  .  For  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the 
inward  man." 

In  the  law  we  find  how  we  ought  to  live,  but  through 
the  law  we  cannot  find  eternal  life.  Salvation  is  offered 
in  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  We  need  the  law 
for  guidance,  but  grace  for  salvation. 


IV 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  INSTITUTION 


"For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many  members,  and  all  the 
members  of  the  body,  being  many,  are  one  body;  so  also  is  Christ. 
For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether 
Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free;  and  were  all  made  to  drink 
of  one  Spirit.  For  the  body  is  not  one  member,  but  many. 
.  .  .  Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  severally  members 
thereof.  And  God  hath  set  some  in  the  church,  first  apostles, 
secondly  prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then  miracles,  then  gifts  of 
healings,  helps,  governments,  divers  kinds  of  tongues."  I  Cor. 
12  :  12-14,  27,  28. 


CHAPTER  I 
CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  CHURCH 

Christianity  might  be  defined  as  the  life  of  Christ 
in  the  lives  of  men.  If  we  think  of  Christianity  and  the 
individual,  we  may  define  it  as  the  life  of  Christ  in  the 
life  of  the  individual.  But  if  we  are  thinking  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  world,  we  may  define  it  as  the  life  of 
Christ  in  the  life  of  society.  Christianity  is  both  of 
these,  for  when  the  individual  is  saved  he  has  a  saving 
influence  upon  society.  This  is  what  Jesus  intimated 
when  he  compared  his  disciples  to  a  lamp  set  upon  a 
stand  giving  light  to  the  whole  house,  or  to  a  city  upon 
a  hill  that  cannot  be  hid,  or  when  he  called  them  the 
salt  of  the  earth  or  the  preserving  influence  in  society. 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  any  life  principle  is  that 
it  forms  for  itself  a  body.  The  life  germ  gathers  to  it- 
self materials  out  of  which  it  constructs  the  organism  in 
connection  with  which  it  lives.  Plant  the  seed  in  the 
ground  and  the  life  in  the  seed  germinates;  it  gathers 
to  itself  materials  which  it  forms  into  a  sprout,  and  then 
into  a  stalk,  which  in  time  bears  a  head  of  grain.  As 
Jesus  said,  there  is  ''first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then 
the  full  grain  in  the  ear."  The  life  in  the  seed  has 
formed  for  itself  a  body.  So  Paul  speaks  of  the  soul 
and  the  spiritual  body  which  by  the  power  of  God  it 
will  form  for  itself  in  the  resurrection.  ''That  which 
thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  the  body  that  shall  be, 
but  a  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some 

173 


174  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

other  kind;  but  God  giveth  it  a  body  even  as  it  pleased 
him,  and  to  each  seed  a  body  of  its  own." 

By  its  life  processes  the  germ  in  the  acorn  forms  for 
itself  a  body  which  we  call  a  "tree,"  with  its  roots  to 
search  the  soil  for  needed  nourishment,  the  trunk  to 
support  the  limbs  and  to  carry  the  sap  from  the  roots 
to  the  branches,  the  branches  to  hold  the  leaves  which 
drink  in  rain  and  sunshine  and  air.  The  tree  is  the 
body  which  the  tree  life  builds  for  itself. 

So  Christianity,  which  is  the  life  of  Christ  in  the  lives 
of  men,  forms  among  men  and  out  of  human  materials 
a  body  which  is  the  Church.  Of  this  body  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  head  and  source  of  Ufe;  Christians  are  its  mem- 
bers. "Christ  also  is  the  head  of  the  Church,  being 
himself  the  saviour  of  the  body."  Concerning  Christ 
whom  God  raised  from  the  dead  we  read,  that  God 
"made  him  to  sit  at  his  right  hand  in  the  heavenly 
places,  far  above  all  rule,  and  authority,  and  power,  and 
dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only 
in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come,  and 
he  put  all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet,  and  gave 
him  to  be  head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  which  is 
his  body,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all." 
"Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  severally  members 
thereof." 

The  Church,  then,  is  the  body  of  Christ  in  which 
he  manifests  his  life  in  the  world. 

The  Greek  word  ekklesia,  which  in  the  New  Testament 
is  translated  "church,"  means  an  assembly.  The  cor- 
responding Latin  word  is  congregation  from  which  comes 
our  word  "congregation."  The  two  words — "church" 
and  "congregation" — are  practically  synonymous  and 
mean  the  body  of  beHevers  in  Jesus. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  CHURCH  175 

The  word  "Church''  is  used  in  two  senses.  Some- 
times it  is  used  in  the  sense  of  the  '^ invisible  Church, '' 
which  is  composed  of  all  true  believers  of  all  time.  It 
is  also  used  in  the  sense  of  the  '^  visible  Church, "  which 
is  composed  of  all  those  on  earth  who  profess  their 
faith  in  Christ,  together  with  their  children. 

A  person  may  be  a  member  of  the  visible  Church  and 
not  be  a  member  of  the  invisible  Church,  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  possible  to  profess  faith  in  Christ  without 
having  true  faith  in  the  heart.  And  one  may  be  a 
member  of  the  invisible  Church  without  being  a  member 
of  the  visible  Church,  because  true  faith  may  precede 
the  actual  uniting  with  the  visible  Church  by  profession 
of  faith.  Only  God  knows  who  belong  to  the  invisible 
Church  of  Christ,  and  in  our  discussion  of  the  Church 
we  must  deal  largely  with  the  visible  Church,  or  the 
Church  on  earth. 

The  Church  on  earth,  then,  is  that  visible  body  in 
which  Christ  manifests  his  life.  The  Church  is  the 
body  which  the  life  of  Christ  has  formed  for  itself 
in  the  world,  as  the  wheat  life  forms  the  wheat  body 
and  the  tree  life  forms  its  tree  body. 

There  is  a  striking  likeness  between  the  manner  in 
which  one  of  the  simplest  forms  of  life  grows  and  multi- 
plies and  the  manner  in  which  the  life  of  Christ  grows 
in  society.  Those  who  have  examined  the  microscopic 
form  of  life  known  as  the  amoeba,  have  discovered  that 
it  multiplies  by  division.  The  amoeba  grows  by  ab- 
sorbing materials  from  without,  but  it  also  contracts 
in  the  middle  and  the  two  parts  at  last  separate,  form- 
ing-two amoebae.  Thus  it  multiplies  by  absorption  and 
division. 

So  it  is  with  the  Church.    In  the  days  of  the  apostles 


176  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

the  Church  grew  by  absorbing  new  members  who, 
through  knowledge  and  faith,  came  into  Hving  touch 
withChristtheSourceofhfe.  "The  Lord  added  .  .  . 
day  by  day  those  that  were  saved. "  Thus  twelve  became 
one  hundred  and  twenty,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
became  three  thousand,  and  three  thousand  became 
five  thousand,  but  all  these  were  one  body,  or  one 
Church.  But  after  the  death  of  Stephen  'Hhere  arose 
on  that  day  a  great  persecution  against  the  church  which 
was  in  Jerusalem;  and  they  were  all  scattered  abroad 
throughout  the  regions  of  Judaa  and  Samaria,  except 
the  apostles.  .  .  .  They  therefore  that  were  scat- 
tered abroad  went  about  preaching  the  word. "  These 
Christians,  separated  from  the  mother  church  in  Jeru- 
salem, became  centers  of  Christ's  life  in  society  and 
gathered  to  themselves  believers  in  Jesus  and  formed 
other  churches.  So  there  were  churches  in  Samaria, 
and  in  Antioch,  and  in  other  places.  After  the  same 
manner  the  Church  developed  in  America,  for  the  Pil- 
grims, a  part  of  the  Church  in  Holland,  which  had  been 
part  of  the  Church  in  England,  came  to  America  and 
formed  a  Church.  So  also  others  came  to  our  shores 
and  estabhshed  the  Church.  When  the  Church  in  this 
country  sends  a  missionary  to  some  foreign  land,  the 
Church  is  dividing  its  life  in  order  that  the  part  which 
goes  to  another  land  may  become  a  center  of  life  in  that 
land  and  gather  to  itself  lives  to  be  touched  by  the  life 
of  Christ  and  become  a  Church  in  that  foreign  land. 
Thus  the  living  Church  grows  by  absorption  and 
division. 

If  the  Church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  and  Christianity 
is  the  life  of  Christ  in  the  lives  of  men,  we  may  naturally 
expect  to  find  that  where  Christianity  goes  the  Church 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  CHURCH  177 

goes,  and  where  the  Church  goes  Christianity  goes. 
This  is  the  testimony  of  history.  Even  those  who 
criticize  and  withdraw  from  the  external  organization 
of  the  Church  gather  to  themselves  kindred  spirits  to 
form  another  assembly,  or  body,  for  the  service  of 
Christ.  We  find  that  a  living  Church  means  a  vital 
Christianity  and  a  vital  Christianity  means  a  living 
Church. 

It  seems  scarcely  necessary  in  view  of  these  facts  to 
say  that  the  Christian  has  an  institution  to  which  he  is 
related.  Believers  in  Christ  are  members  of  his  body, 
and  his  body  consists  of  related  working  parts  just  as 
the  human  body  consists  of  related  working  parts.  As 
there  are  hands  and  feet  and  eyes  and  other  members 
in  the  human  body,  so  there  are  the  members  of  the 
body  of  Christ  with  their  various  duties:  apostles, 
prophets,  teachers,  helpers,  rulers,  and  others.  Every 
believer  in  Jesus,  therefore,  has  a  relation  and  an  obliga- 
tion to  the  Christian 's  institution,  which  is  the  Church 
of  Christ. 


12 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  CHURCH'S  TASK 

The  thing  to  be  done  determines  the  character  of  the 
agency  by  which  it  is  to  be  done.  The  task  dominates 
the  machine.  Whitney  invented  the  cotton  gin  because 
there  was  cotton  to  be  freed  from  seed.  Fulton  planned 
and  built  his  steamboat  because  there  was  a  river  to  be 
navigated.  Stephenson  invented  his  steam  locomotive 
because  there  was  distance  to  be  traversed.  Bell  in- 
vented his  telephone  because  there  was  a  demand  for 
conversation  at  a  distance.  A  factory  is  planned  and 
built  with  a  view  to  the  product  which  it  is  to  turn  out. 

The  task  and  the  machine  of  course  may  develop  to- 
gether— the  cotton  gin  and  the  cotton  industry,  the 
steamboat  and  navigation,  the  steam  engine  and  trans- 
portation, the  telephone  and  distant  communication,  the 
factory  and  its  product — but  the  fact  remains  that 
the  purpose  to  be  served  really  precedes  and  determines 
the  character  of  the  machine  invented  to  serve  that 
purpose.  The  desire  to  measure  time  existed  before 
the  watch. 

This  same  truth  holds  good  in  the  world  of  hfe.  The 
purpose  which  is  to  be  served  shapes  the  tree  which 
grows  from  the  acorn.  Its  roots  are  to  reach  down  into 
the  soil  to  hold  the  tree  and  to  gather  the  juices  from  the 
earth.  The  trunk  is  to  hold  the  limbs  and  to  carry 
the  sap  to  the  branches.  The  leaves  are  to  gather  rain 
and  sunshine  and  air.  The  task  which  the  tree  has  to 
perform  in  its  environment  determines  the  shape  and 

178 


THE  CHURCH'S  TASK  179 

character  of  the  tree.  Such  adaptation  runs  through 
the  whole  world  of  life.  The  finest  machine,  which 
possesses  the  closest  adaptations  which  we  know,  is  the 
marvelous  human  body.  It  has  its  great  brain  because 
man  is  to  think  and  to  control  a  complex  body.  It  has 
its  eyes  because  man  needs  to  see,  ears  because  he  needs 
to  hear,  taste  because  he  needs  to  select  foods  to  eat, 
feet  because  he  needs  to  move  from  place  to  place, 
hands  because  he  is  to  make  things,  a  digestive  tract 
because  he  needs  to  be  nourished,  circulation  because 
his  body  must  be  constantly  repaired.  The  body  is 
planned  for  the  task  that  the  personality  which  con- 
trols the  body  is  to  perform. 

So  it  is  with  the  Church,  which  is  the  body  of  Christ. 
We  have  a  Church  in  the  world  because  there  is  a  task 
in  the  world.  Christ  had  a  purpose  to  carry  out,  and  so 
he  planned  and  organized  the  Church.  The  Gospels 
and  The  Acts  tell  of  the  organization  of  the  Church. 
Jesus  began  to  teach  and  to  do  his  mighty  works  as  signs 
of  his  authority  and  as  a  ministry  to  the  needs  of  men ; 
but  he  met  with  opposition.  The  purpose  of  Jesus  and 
the  purpose  of  the  Jewish  leaders  came  into  conflict. 
The  issue  was  at  last  clearly  drawn.  "  And  the  Pharisees 
went  out,  and  straightway  with  the  Herodians  took  coun- 
sel against  him,  how  they  might  destroy  him.  .  .  And 
he  appointed  twelve,  that  they  might  be  with  him,  and 
that  he  might  send  them  forth  to  preach,  and  to  have 
authority  to  cast  out  demons. "  When  others  organized 
to  defeat  his  purpose,  Jesus  planned  the  Church,  which 
was  to  be  his  organization  to  carry  out  his  purpose. 
The  apostles  were  called  in  order  that  they  might  be  in 
training  for  leadership  in  the  Church. 

If  we  should  view  the  Church  under  the  figure  of  a 


180  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

building  or  the  Temple  of  God,  the  apostles  were  the 
foundation  stones,  the  first  course  in  the  walls  of 
the  edifice  which  was  to  rest  upon  Christ  himself  as  the 
great  Corner  Stone.  So  when  Peter  was  led  to  see  the 
true  nature  of  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  of  his  task 
as  the  Messiah  and  Saviour,  and  consequently  made 
his  great  confession,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  hving  God,"  Jesus  said  to  him:  ''Thou  art  Peter 
[Greek,  petros,  a  rock],  and  upon  this  rock  [Greek, 
petra]  I  will  build  my  church. "  Peter  himself  interprets 
the  meaning  of  Jesus  for  us  when  he  says  of  Jesus,  in 
his  First  Epistle,  "unto  whom  coming,  a  living  stone, 
rejected  indeed  of  men,  but  with  God  elect,  precious, 
ye  also,  as  living  stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house, 
to  be  a  holy  priesthood,  to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices, 
acceptable  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ. " 

Thus  Jesus  began  to  build,  or  organize,  his  Church 
with  Peter  as  the  first  stone  because  Peter  was  the  first 
to  confess  his  faith  in  him  as  the  Christ  and  the  Son  of 
God.  The  other  apostles  soon  took  their  places  with 
him  in  the  structure.  Then  other  believers  followed. 
"So  then  ye  are  no  more  strangers  and  sojourners,  but 
ye  are  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  house- 
hold of  God,  being  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets,  Christ  Jesus  himself  being  the 
chief  corner  stone;  in  whom  each  several  building, 
fitly  framed  together,  groweth  into  a  holy  temple  in  the 
Lord;  in  whom  ye  also  are  builded  together  for  a  habi- 
tation of  God  in  the  Spirit. " 

So  the  building,  the  foundation  of  which  Jesus  laid 
with  the  apostles,  has  never  been  completed  but  is  in 
continual  process  of  erection.  It  is  a  living,  growing 
Church,  adapting  itself  to  every  age.    Or,  to  use  the 


THE  CHURCH'S  TASK  181 

other  figure,  the  Church  is  a  living  body,  adapting  it- 
self to  changing  conditions.  But  the  great  task  is 
unchanging. 

Therefore  in  thinking  of  the  Church  we  must  think  of 
the  Church's  task  for  which  Jesus  himself  organized  it 
and  for  which  he  continues  to  give  it  life  and  power 
through  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  can  understand  the 
nature  and  work  of  the  Church  best  if  we  understand 
the  task  which  Jesus  gave  to  the  Church,  and  for  which 
he  planned  the  Church. 

It  is  evident  that  Jesus  established  the  Church  to 
carry  on  to  its  completion  the  task  which  he  himself 
began  in  the  days  of  his  flesh.  Some  things,  of  course, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  did  once  for  all,  and  these  things 
the  Church  does  not  do.  Christ  alone  could  make 
atonement  for  sin.  Christ  alone  can  save.  But  it  is 
the  Church's  task  to  make  the  unique  work  of  Christ 
available  for  all  men  by  bringing  salvation  within  their 
reach.     In  this  sense,  Christ's  task  is  the  Church's  task. 

Jesus  in  his  ministry  did  three  things  which  the 
Church  is  expected  to  do  in  his  name  in  the  world  to- 
day. Jesus  was  first  of  all  a  teacher.  He  came  from 
heaven  to  bring  God 's  message  to  men.  To  Nicodemus 
he  said:  ''We  speak  that  which  we  know,  and  bear  wit- 
ness of  that  which  we  have  seen ;  and  ye  receive  not  our 
witness.  If  I  told  you  earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not, 
how  shall  ye  believe  if  I  tell  you  heavenly  things?  And 
no  one  hath  ascended  into  heaven,  but  he  that  de- 
scended out  of  heaven,  even  the  Son  of  man,  who  is  in 
heaven. "  To  his  disciples  he  said,  ''The  word  which  ye 
hear  is  not  mine,  but  the  Father's  who  sent  me. " 

Jesus,  however,  was  more  than  a  teacher  who  came 
from  heaven  with  the  truth  for  men :  he  was  a  witness. 


182  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

A  witness  is  one  whose  character  supports  what  he  says. 
So  Jesus'  Hfe  gave  authority  to  his  words.  *' Which  of 
you  convicteth  me  of  sin?  If  I  say  truth,  why  do  ye  not 
beheve  me?  "  The  Jews  sought  to  evade  Jesus '  teaching 
by  defaming  or  denouncing  his  character.  Jesus  sought 
to  prove  his  teaching  by  an  appeal  to  his  character.  If 
his  opponents  could  find  no  fault  in  his  character,  they 
were  bound  to  accept  his  testimony. 

Christ  also  appealed  to  his  deeds  as  evidence  of  his 
authority  as  a  teacher.  His  mighty  works  were  signs  of 
his  authority  and  illustrations  of  the  truth  he  taught. 
^'Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in 
me:  or  else  believe  me  for  the  very  works'  sake." 
Jesus'  ministry  to  the  needs  of  men  gave  power  to  his 
message  of  God's  love  and  of  salvation  from  sin. 

The  task  of  the  Church  is  to  continue  this  threefold 
work  of  Jesus.  The  Church  is  first  of  all  a  teaching  in- 
stitution whose  tavsk  it  is  to  give  the  gospel  to  the  world. 
"Whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 
be  saved.  How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom 
they  have  not  believed?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in 
him  whom  they  have  not  heard?  and  how  shall  they 
hear  without  a  preacher?  and  how  shall  they  preach, 
except  they  be  sent?  even  as  it  is  written,  How  beautiful 
are  the  feet  of  them  that  bring  glad  tidings  of  good 
things!"  So  Jesus  in  the  Great  Commission  said:  "All 
authority  hath  been  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the 
nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit:  teaching  them  to 
observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded  you :  and  lo, 
I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. " 

Like  Christ,  the  Church  is  to  be  a  witness.    Jesus 


THE  CHURCH'S  TASK  183 

said:  *'It  is  not  for  you  to  know  times  or  seasons,  which 
the  Father  hath  set  within  his  own  authority.  But  ye 
shall  receive  power,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  come  upon 
you:  and  ye  shall  be  my  witnesses  both  in  Jerusalem, 
and  in  all  Judaea  and  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost 
part  of  the  earth. "  The  Church  is  more  than  a  teacher 
in  Christ's  name,  telling  the  world  the  truths  of  the 
gospel;  the  Church  is  a  witness  for  Christ  in  the  world, 
and  as  a  witness  the  Church's  character  must  give  the 
ring  of  truth  to  its  testimony.  Witnessing  is  more  than 
stating  the  truth;  it  is  supporting  the  truth  by  the 
character  of  the  witness.  Some  one  has  well  said  that 
the  best  argument  for  Christianity  is  the  Christian. 
The  Church's  task,  therefore,  is  not  only  to  preserve 
and  to  declare  the  truth,  but  to  build  such  character 
that  the  testimony  of  the  church   will  be  believed. 

When  Jesus  appealed  to  his  mighty  works  as  evidence 
that  he  was  the  messenger  of  God,  and  said,  "BeHeve 
me  for  the  very  works'  sake,"  he  went  on  to  say  to  his 
disciples,  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  He  that  be- 
lieveth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also ;  and 
greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do;  because  I  go  unto 
the  Father."  The  Church  is  to  show  to  the  world  the 
character  of  Christ  by  its  Christlike  deeds  of  service. 

The  task  of  the  Church,  then,  is  to  teach  Christ,  to 
live  Christ,  and  to  illustrate  Christ  to  the  world.  For 
this  the  Church  was  planned  and  instituted  by  Jesus 
himself.  The  Church  is  his  body  to  do  his  work  in  the 
world,  and  for  this  work  the  Church  has  been  peculiarly 
fitted,  as  is  suggested  by  the  words  of  Paul:  ''And  God 
hath  set  some  in  the  Church,  first  apostles,  secondly 
prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then  miracles,  then  gifts  of 
healings,  helps,  governments,  divers  kinds  of  tongues. " 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TRUTH 

The  Church  is  first  of  all  a  teaching  institution.  It 
is  in  the  world  to  make  Christ  and  his  truth  known. 
When  Jesus  appointed  the  Twelve  it  was  that  they 
might  be  with  him  in  order  to  learn  to  know  him  and 
his  truth  and  then  go  out  to  proclaim  him  and  his  truth 
to  the  world.  When  he  gave  the  Church  the  Great 
Commission,  he  said,  *^Go  ye  therefore,  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations,  .  .  .  teaching  them  to 
observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded  you." 
And  so,  in  speaking  of  the  Church  as  the  body  of  Christ 
in  the  world  to  do  his  will  and  to  carry  out  his  great 
purpose,  Paul  said,  ''And  God  hath  set  some  in  the 
church,  first  apostles,  secondly  prophets,  thirdly 
teachers."  Paul  also  emphasized  the  importance  of 
the  Church's  work  of  proclaiming  the  truth,  when  he 
said,  "For  Christ  sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach 
the  gospel." 

The  Church,  then,  is  to  make  known  Christian  truth. 
Because  the  revelation  of  God  has  been  preserved  for 
us  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  Church  must  make  known 
their  contents.  Better  far  a  few  stumblingly  spoken 
words  than  a  perfect  book  locked  in  a  safe.  So  the 
Church  is  a  Bible-reading  institution.  In  its  services 
the  Bible  is  opened  and  its  sacred  pages  read.  What 
John  said  of  the  book  of  Revelation  may  well  be  said  of 
the  whole  Word  of  God:  ''Blessed  is  he  that  readeth, 
and  they  that  hear  the  words  of  the  prophecy. " 

But  if  the  Church  is  to  be  faithful  to  its  teaching  task, 
184 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TRUTH      185 

it  must  do  more  than  read  the  Scriptures:  the  Scrip- 
tures must  be  interpreted.  Ezra  the  scribe  and  his 
helpers  set  a  good  example  when  they  ''read  in  the  book, 
in  the  law  of  God,  distinctly;  and  they  gave  the  sense, 
so  that  they  understood  the  reading. "  So  the  task  of 
the  Church  is  not  only  to  read  the  Scriptures,  but  also 
to  interpret  the  Scriptures  by  making  their  meaning 
plain  to  all  men. 

The  teaching  duty  of  the  Church  has  not  been  dis- 
charged, however,  when  the  Church  has  explained  the 
meaning  of  passages  of  Scripture.  Teaching  the  truth 
is  more  than  giving  an  exposition  of  Bible  portions. 
When  Jesus  talked  with  the  two  disciples  on  the  way 
to  Emmaus,  and  they  were  perplexed  by  his  death  and 
the  many  strange  rumors  that  had  come  to  them,  "he 
said  unto  them,  0  foolish  men,  and  slow  of  heart  to  be- 
lieve in  all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken!  Behooved 
it  not  the  Christ  to  suffer  these  things,  and  to  enter 
into  his  glory?  And  beginning  from  Moses  and  from  all 
the  prophets,  he  interpreted  to  them  in  all  the  scriptures 
the  things  concerning  himself. "  Jesus  taught  these  dis- 
ciples the  great  truth  of  the  atonement  and  drew  upon 
the  Scriptures  in  support  of  his  teaching.  From  the 
Scriptures  he  gathered  together  quotations  and  focused 
them  upon  the  great  truth  which  he  was  proclaiming. 
Philip  followed  the  same  course  with  the  Ethiopian 
whom  he  found  reading  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  ''and 
beginning  from  this  scripture,  preached  unto  him  Jesus.  '^ 
"Jesus  the  Saviour"  was  the  subject  which  Philip  dis- 
cussed, and  he  brought  to  bear  upon  that  great  truth 
the  various  statements  of  the  Word  of  God.  This  was 
also  the  method  of  Peter  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost.  He 
used  the  Scriptures  to  illuminate  and  to  apply  the  great 
Christian  doctrines  concerning  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour, 


186  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

repentance,  and  faith.  This  kind  of  teaching  is  commonly 
called  preaching,  and  God  has  signally  honored  it. 
"The  Spirit  of  God  maketh  the  reading,  but  especially 
the  preaching,  of  the  Word,  an  effectual  means  of  con- 
vincing and  converting  sinners,  and  of  building  them 
up  in  holiness  and  comfort  through  faith  unto  salvation." 

Because  the  teaching  work  of  the  Church  is  so  im- 
portant, the  Church  has  its  ministers  who  are  set  apart 
for  leadership  in  this  teaching  service.  Paul  directed 
Timothy:  ''The  things  which  thou  hast  heard  from  me 
among  many  witnesses,  the  same  commit  thou  to  faith- 
ful men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others  also."  As 
the  Church  in  the  days  of  Paul  had  its  apostles,  prophets, 
and  teachers,  so  the  Church  to-day  has  its  ministers  who 
are  especially  trained  for  their  task  in  the  Church  and 
are  supported  by  the  Church  in  order  that  they  may 
give  their  full  time  to  this  leadership  in  the  truth. 
That  the  minister  may  be  equipped  for  his  work  he  is 
usually  required  to  graduate  from  a  college  where  he 
receives  a  general  education,  and  from  a  seminary 
where  he  studies  those  branches  which  fit  him  to  be  a 
teacher  of  Christian  truth. 

If  the  Church  is  to  make  provision  for  the  teaching  of 
Christian  truth  and  to  guard  against  the  teaching  of 
error,  it  is  evident  that  some  way  must  be  found  to  as- 
sure soundness  in  the  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Church 's 
authorized  teachers.  If  anyone  who  might  choose  to  do 
so  could  appoint  himself  a  teacher  in  the  Church,  the 
Church  might  soon  drift  away  from  the  truth  amidst 
conflicting  teaching.  James,  the  brother  of  our  Lord, 
evidently  had  this  thought  in  mind  when  he  wrote, 
"Be  not  many  of  you  teachers,  my  brethren,  knowing 
that  we  shall  receive  heavier  judgment."  The  truth 
is  too  sacred  to  be  handled  lightly.    Too  much  depends 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TRUTH      187 

upon  the  proclamation  of  the  pure  gospel  to  the  world 
for  anyone  and  everyone  to  be  permitted  to  assume  the 
responsibility  of  being  a  spokesman  for  the  Church. 
It  is  imperative,  therefore,  that  the  Church  should  not 
only  make  provision  for  the  proper  training  of  its 
teachers,  but  that  when  their  training  has  been  com- 
pleted the  soundness  of  their  faith  should  be  tested. 

This  is  not  a  denial  of  the  right  of  free  speech.  Any 
individual  may  say  what  he  as  an  individual  believes, 
but  every  Church,  or  denomination,  has  the  right  to 
make  sure  that  its  authorized  teachers  will  teach  the 
truth  as  it  is  held  by  the  Church.  So  provision  must  be 
made  for  the  discovering  of  the  beliefs  of  those  who  are 
to  become  the  Church's  authorized  teachers.  Such 
provision  was  made  in  the  days  of  the  apostles  by  the 
custom  of  ordaining,  or  setting  apart,  those  who  were 
to  speak  for  the  Church  as  its  messengers.  Young 
Timothy  was  thus  set  apart.  This  is  what  Paul  referred 
to  when  he  wrote  to  him,  ''Neglect  not  the  gift  that  is 
in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  by  prophecy,  with  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery."  So  when 
the  modern  minister  has  finished  his  training  for  his 
great  work  as  one  of  the  Church's  teachers  of  Christian 
truth,  there  is  a  court  of  the  Church  whose  business  it 
is  to  examine  him  in  regard  to  his  knowledge  and  his 
convictions  concerning  the  truth.  He  is  asked  to  de- 
clare his  belief  in  the  system  of  doctrine  held  by  the 
Church. 

The  work  of  the  Church  as  a  teacher  of  Christian 
truth,  however,  is  not  done  by  the  ministers  only.  The 
truth  must  be  spread  by  every  Christian.  The  growth 
of  the  Apostolic  Church  is  not  to  be  explained  alone 
by  the  power  which  came  upon  the  apostles,  but  by  the 
fact  that  all  believers  were  witnesses  for  Christ.     So 


188  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

the  Church  is  a  teaching  institution  in  which  every 
member  is  a  herald  of  the  gospel.  The  local  church, 
therefore,  has  a  teaching  force,  which  is  under  the  super- 
vision and  control  of  the  authorities  of  the  local  church 
in  order  that  the  message  of  the  church  may  be  the  true 
gospel  of  Christ. 

Thus,  so  far  as  human  oversight  is  concerned,  the 
Church  is  organized  for  its  task  as  a  teaching  institution 
established  by  Christ  to  give  his  truth  to  the  world. 
With  the  truth  preserved  in  the  Scriptures,  interpreted 
and  proclaimed  by  trained  and  authorized  teachers,  and 
passed  on  to  others  by  all  who  hear,  the  message  of 
Christ  is  reaching  the  world. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  CHURCH  AND  CHARACTER 

The  Church  is  more  than  the  herald  of  Christ;  it  is 
a  witness  for  Christ.  The  value  of  the  testimony  of  a 
witness  depends  largely  upon  his  character.  When 
Jesus'  teaching  was  questioned,  he  challenged  those 
who  would  reject  his  teaching  to  find  a  flaw  in  his 
character.  "Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?"  he 
asked.  If  his  character  could  not  be  attacked  he  in- 
sisted that  his  testimony  must  be  accepted.  "If  I  say 
truth,  why  do  ye  not  believe  me?  "  The  power  of  Jesus ' 
message  was  not  in  the  words  which  he  spoke  so  much 
as  in  the  character  back  of  the  words. 

To  his  disciples  Jesus  said,  "  Ye  shall  be  my  witnesses." 
Because  the  Church  is  a  witness  for  Christ,  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Church  to-day  takes  on  new  importance.  If 
the  Church  shows  itself  to  be  insincere  or  dishonest,  or 
half-hearted,  indifferent,  selfish,  cowardly,  or  immoral, 
how  can  the  world  be  persuaded  that  it  is  the  spokesman 
of  Him  who  "so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son  "  to  save  the  world  from  sin?  A  corrupt 
and  worldly  Church  loses  its  power  to  convince  the 
world  that  its  message  is  from  God.  If  the  Church  is 
to  fulfill  its  Christ-given  mission  in  the  world  it  must 
be  a  character-building  institution.  If  the  Church 
should  merely  proclaim  the  truth,  even  though  the 
truth  were  proclaimed  in  its  purity,  it  would  fail  of  its 
purpose  unless  that  message  should  bear  fruit  first  in 
the  Church's  own  life. 

The  truth  of  Christ  is  not  proclaimed  merely  to  make 
189 


190  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

men  wise;  it  is  proclaimed  to  make  men  wise  unto  salva- 
tion. The  truth  is  not  in  order  to  intelligence;  the  truth 
is  in  order  to  godliness.  The  truth  is  not  aimed  exclu- 
sively at  the  mind;  it  is  aimed  through  the  mind  at  the 
heart  and  the  will.  Its  goal  is  character.  When  the 
truth  bears  fruit  in  the  life,  that  fruit  does  not  consist  of 
words  fitly  spoken,  but  in  deeds  rightly  done.  So  James 
wrote,  "What  doth  it  profit,  my  brethren,  if  a  man  say 
he  hath  faith,  but  have  not  works?"  And  our  Lord 
himself  said,  "Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord> 
Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  he 
that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven. '^ 
So  while  the  Church  is  preserving  and  proclaiming  the 
message  of  truth,  the  Church  must  also  be  building,  in 
those  who  believe,  character  which  will  convince  the 
world  that  the  message  is  true. 

The  Church  therefore  is  more  than  an  institution  for 
the  teaching  of  truth,  and  in  connection  with  its  assem- 
blies there  is  found  much  more  than  the  exposition  of  the 
Word  and  the  presentation  of  the  truth. 

The  very  first  New  Testament  characterization  of 
the  Church  is  in  the  words,  "And  they  continued  sted- 
fastly  in  the  apostles'  teaching  and  fellowship,  in  the 
breaking  of  bread  and  the  prayers. " 

Christian  truth,  which  is  what  is  meant  by  "the 
apostles'  teaching,"  has  character-building  power. 
The  milk  and  the  meat  of  truth  is  what  the  soul  feeds 
upon.  Growth  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
go  together  in  Christian  experience.  The  Bible  and 
character  are  vitally  related. 

Christian  fellowship  also  has  much  to  do  with  char- 
acter-building. The  play  of  one  life  upon  other  life  has 
a  powerful  influence.     The  personality  of  Jesus  had 


THE  CHURCH  AND  CHARACTER  191 

even  more  to  do  with  the  remaking  of  his  disciples  than 
had  his  words.  So  the  truth  as  it  is  embodied  in  the 
lives  of  men  is  a  great  character-building  force.  The 
Church  offers  this  much  needed  Christian  fellowship. 

The  sacraments,  too,  have  their  special  place  in  char- 
acter-building. The  members  of  the  Church  were 
baptized  and  they  continued  steadfastly  ''in  the  break- 
ing of  bread.''  The  sacraments  of  the  Church  with 
their  character-building  influences  will  be  considered 
more  fully  in  a  later  chapter. 

United  prayer  has  its  place  in  deepening  Christian 
life  and  in  building  Christian  character.  Private  prayer 
in  secret  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  the  united  prayer 
of  Christians.  This  means  of  grace  the  Church  affords 
in  its  meetings  for  worship. 

The  hymns  of  the  Church  have  come  out  of  the  rich 
experiences  of  Christians  of  all  ages,  and  these  hymns 
have  the  power  to  kindle  Christian  emotion  and  to 
nourish  Christian  life  and  to  strengthen  Christian 
character.  Singing  the  hymns  of  the  Church  together 
is  a  character-building  exercise.  They  do  more  than 
express  truth  in  rhythm,  rime,  and  melody.  The 
singing  of  hymns  together  in  the  worship  services  of  the 
Church  strengthens  the  heart  and  builds  character. 
Well  may  Christians  who  really  desire  Christian  char- 
acter take  heed  not  to  forsake  the  assembling  of  them- 
selves together  with  other  Christians  for  the  worship  of 
God. 

The  practice  of  passing  the  collection  plate  in  the 
churches  has  sometimes  been  made  light  of,  as  if  the 
collection  were  the  chief  characteristic  of  the  Church. 
But  the  service  of  giving  has  more  to  do  with  the  build- 
ing of  character  than  is  sometimes  realized.    "  It  is  more 


192  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

blessed  to  give  than  to  receive. "  Through  the  unselfish- 
ness of  giving  the  soul  grows.  The  Church 's  cultivation 
of  the  grace  of  giving  has  no  small  place  in  the  building 
of  Christian  character. 

Paul  has  much  to  say  about  one  Christian  helping 
another  in  his  Christian  Hfe.  Some  one  has  said  that 
it  is  easy  to  stand  up  in  a  crowd  because  others  hold 
us  up.  And  so  it  is  easier  to  live  as  a  Christian  when  we 
are  upheld  by  the  example  and  the  encouragement  and 
support  of  many  fellow  Christians.  The  Church  pro- 
vides this  Christian  fellowship.  Jesus  said  to  Peter, 
''When  once  thou  hast  turned  again,  establish  thy 
brethren. "  So  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  helps  men 
overcome  their  weaknesses.  "Bear  ye  one  another's 
burden,  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ,"  Paul  wrote  to 
the  church  of  Galatia.  And  to  the  church  in  Rome  he 
wrote,  "Now  we  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  in- 
firmities of  the  weak. "  Of  the  value  of  Christian  fellow- 
ship so  strong  a  Christian  character  as  Paul  said,  "For 
I  long  to  see  you,  that  I  may  impart  unto  you  some 
spiritual  gift,  to  the  end  ye  may  be  established;  that  is, 
that  I  with  3^ou  may  be  comforted  in  you,  each  of  us  by 
the  other's  faith,  both  yours  and  mine." 

When  we  are  thinking  of  the  Church  as  a  character- 
building  institution  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  two  sides 
of  this  truth.  First,  we  must  remember  that  for  the 
very  reason  that  the  Church  is  a  character-building  in- 
stitution it  cannot  be  made  up  of  perfect  characters. 
If  the  moment  one  becomes  a  disciple  of  Jesus  he  should 
become  perfect,  there  would  be  no  further  need  of  teach- 
ing or  of  exhortation  or  sympathy  or  helpfulness.  But 
because  the  convert  is  a  newborn  babe  in  Christ,  the 
new  Church  member  must  be  nurtured  in  knowledge 


THE  CHURCH  AND  CHARACTER  193 

and  faith  and  life.  The  Church  is  a  hospital  for  sin-sick 
souls  that  must  be  nursed  back  into  health.  The 
Church  is  a  school  for  the  training  of  disciples  of  Jesus 
in  Christian  living  and  Christian  service.  Inasmuch 
as  the  Church  has  the  task  of  developing  Christians, 
perfection  cannot  be  expected  in  its  members.  Even 
Paul  declared:  "Not  that  I  have  already  obtained,  or 
am  already  made  perfect:  but  I  press  on,  if  so  be  that 
I  may  lay  hold  on  that  for  which  I  was  laid  hold  on  by 
Christ  Jesus.  Brethren,  I  count  not  myself  yet  to  have 
laid  hold:  but  one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  the  things 
which  are  behind,  and  stretching  forward  to  the  things 
which  are  before,  I  press  on  toward  the  goal  unto  the 
prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  The 
Church,  then,  is  a  company  of  disciples  of  Jesus  whose 
goal  is  likeness  to  Christ,  and  toward  that  goal  they  are 
running.  And  the  truth,  the  fellowship,  the  ordinances, 
and  the  activities  of  the  Church  are  planned  to  make  it 
a  character-building  institution. 

But  the  other  side  of  this  truth  must  be  borne  in 
mind  also.  Because  the  Church  is  not  only  the  messen- 
ger of  Christ  in  the  world  but  also  a  witness  for  Christ, 
the  Church  must  exhibit  character  to  the  world.  Al- 
though made  up  of  imperfect  Christians  it  must  show 
such  progress  in  character  development  and  must  give 
such  demonstration  of  the  saving  power  of  Jesus  Christ, 
that  the  world  will  receive  the  Church's  testimony. 
Paul,  who  said  that  the  strong  must  bear  the  infirmities 
of  the  weak  and  who  had  much  to  say  about  the 
Church's  duty  to  the  weaker  brother,  was  careful  also 
to  urge  that  the  Church  should  be  cleansed  of  those 
whose  evil  lives  would  bring  reproach  upon  the  name  of 
Christ.  While  he  said,  ''Admonish  the  disorderly,  en- 
13 


194  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

courage  the  fainthearted,  support  the  weak,  be  long- 
suffering  toward  all,"  he  said  also,  ^'I  wrote  unto  you 
in  my  epistle  to  have  no  company  with  fornicators; 
not  at  all  meaning  with  the  fornicators  of  this  world,  or 
with  the  covetous  and  extortioners,  or  with  idolaters; 
for  then  must  ye  needs  go  out  of  the  world :  but  as  it  is, 
I  wrote  unto  you  not  to  keep  company,  if  any  man  that 
is  named  a  brother  be  a  fornicator,  or  covetous,  or  an 
idolater,  or  a  reviler,  or  a  drunkard,  or  an  extortioner; 
with  such  a  one  no,  not  to  eat.  For  what  have  I  to 
do  with  judging  them  that  are  without?  Do  not  ye 
judge  them  that  are  within?  But  them  that  are  without 
God  judgeth.  Put  away  the  wicked  man  from  among 
yourselves. " 

Because  the  character  of  the  Church  must  be  main- 
tained in  order  that  the  Church  may  be  a  witness  for 
Christ  in  the  world,  the  Church  exercises  discipline  and 
has  its  courts  whose  business  it  is  to  maintain  the 
character  of  the  Church  by  the  rejection  of  those  who 
by  their  ungodly  lives  bring  reproach  upon  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  The  Church  has  a  twofold  duty:  to  nurture 
the  weak  in  an  effort  to  develop  Christian  character, 
and  to  cast  out  those  who  persist  in  ungodliness  and  so 
would  bring  reproach  upon  the  name  of  Christ.  There 
is  abundant  room  in  the  Church  for  even  the  weakest 
sinner  who  desires  to  follow  Jesus ;  but  there  is  no  room 
in  the  Church  for  the  persistent  and  impenitent  sinner 
who  would  make  Church  membership  a  cloak  for  his 
sins,  and  who  would  destroy  the  Church 's  character  as 
Christ's  witness  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  CHURCH  AND  SERVICE 

The  mighty  works  of  Jesus  were  signs.  In  his  Gospel, 
John  wrote,  ''Many  other  signs  therefore  did  Jesus  in 
the  presence  of  the  disciples,  which  are  not  written  in 
this  book:  but  these  are  written,  that  ye  may  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  and  that  be- 
lieving ye  may  have  life  in  his  name."  Jesus  himself 
said:  ''The  works  that  I  do  in  my  Father's  name,  these 
bear  witness  of  me. "  "The  very  works  that  I  do,  bear 
witness  of  me,  that  the  Father  hath  sent  me. "  "Believe 
me  that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me:  or 
else  believe  me  for  the  very  works'  sake."  But  Jesus 
had  something  to  say  to  his  disciples  about  their  works 
also:  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  He  that  believeth 
in  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also ;  and  greater 
works  than  these  shall  he  do;  because  I  go  unto  the 
Father. "  As  Jesus  did  his  mighty  works,  so  the  Church 
also  is  to  do  its  mighty  works  in  his  name.  And  these 
works  are  signs  that  the  Christ  is  in  his  Church,  even 
as  Christ 's  works  were  signs  that  the  Father  was  in  him. 

What  were  the  mighty  works  of  Jesus?  His  greatest 
works  were  not  the  most  spectacular.  His  miracles  of 
grace  were  greater  than  his  miracles  of  healing.  This  is 
the  thought  to  which  he  gave  expression  when  he  healed 
the  paralytic.  He  said  first  to  him,  "Son,  thy  sins  are 
forgiven."  And  when  the  scribes  called  it  blasphemy 
for  Jesus  to  claim  to  forgive  sins,  in  order  that  he  might 
prove  his  pnwerto  do  this  greater  work  of  healing  the  soul, 

195 


196  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

he  said  to  the  man  sick  of  the  palsy,  "  I  say  unto  thee, 
Arise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and  go  unto  thy  house." 
Greater  than  any  of  his  miracles  of  healing  was  his 
work  of  making  the  great  Apostle  Peter  out  of  the  im- 
petuous Simon,  or  John  the  Apostle  of  Love  out  of  the 
vengeful  Son  of  Thunder,  or  Paul  the  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles  out  of  Saul  the  Pharisee  and  persecutor.  But 
in  addition  to  his  miracles  of  grace  he  did  his  mighty 
works  of  ministry  to  the  temporal  needs  of  men.  He 
fed  the  hungry,  he  healed  the  sick,  he  gave  sight  to  the 
blind,  he  enabled  the  lame  to  walk,  he  cleansed  the  leper, 
he  cast  out  demons. 

The  Church's  greatest  work  is  the  transformation  of 
human  lives.  Its  great  miracles  are  the  miracles  of 
grace  which  are  wrought  by  the  power  of  the  gospel  in 
those  who  believe.  The  drunkard  made  sober,  the 
thief  made  honest,  the  cruel  man  made  kind  and  gentle, 
the  idler  set  to  work,  the  weak  man  made  strong,  the 
selfish  man  made  unselfish — these  are  the  chief  signs 
that  the  Church  speaks  for  God  in  the  name  of  Christ. 
But,  like  Christ,  the  Church  has  its  ministry  to  the 
everyday  needs  of  men.  The  love  of  God  must  to-day 
manifest  itself  in  a  ministry  like  that  of  Jesus,  who 
''went  about  doing  good."  John,  who  had  caught  the 
spirit  of  Jesus,  wrote  in  one  of  his  Epistles:  "But  whoso 
hath  the  world's  goods,  and  beholdeth  his  brother  in 
need,  and  shutteth  up  his  compassion  from  him,  how 
doth  the  love  of  God  abide  in  him?  My  little  children, 
let  us  not  love  in  word,  neither  with  the  tongue;  but  in 
deed  and  truth." 

The  Church  in  the  days  of  the  apostles  ministered  to 
temporal  need.  "For  neither  was  there  among  them 
any  that  lacked :  for  as  many  as  were  possessors  of  lands. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  SERVICE  197 

or  houses  sold  them,  and  brought  the  prices  of  the 
things  that  were  sold,  and  laid  them  at  the  apostles' 
feet:  and  distribution  was  made  unto  each,  according 
as  any  one  had  need."  And  among  the  churches  of 
the  Gentiles,  when  they  heard  that  there  was  famine 
in  Jerusalem,  collections  were  taken  and  the  money 
sent  to  feed  the  hungry.  The  apostles  also  healed  the 
sick.  The  appointment  of  "deacons"  in  the  Church 
showed  that  the  Church  was  developing  an  organization 
to  minister  to  the  temporal  needs  of  men. 

If  there  were  no  other  institution  to  minister  to 
human  need,  it  would  be  the  Church's  task  to  meet 
every  need  of  man.  This  is  readily  seen  when  the 
Church  goes  to  a  heathen  land.  The  missionary  does 
more  than  preach  the  gospel:  he  establishes  schools, 
builds  hospitals,  erects  orphanages,  teaches  industry. 
He  ministers  to  every  need  of  the  people.  But  in  lands 
where  Christian  civilization  has  brought  schools  and 
institutions  of  mercy,  the  Church  is  not  called  upon 
so  directly  to  establish  and  to  maintain  institutions  and 
organizations  to  minister  to  the  temporal  needs  of  the 
community.  But  the  Church  leaves  such  service  un- 
rendered  only  because  other  institutions  are  meeting 
these  human  needs.  Where  there  is  no  other  institution 
to  minister,  the  Church  must  answer  the  call  of  need. 
Such  "works"  of  the  Church,  in  addition  to  its  "mighty 
works"  of  transformation  of  character  by  the  saving 
power  of  Jesus  Christ,  impress  the  community  with  the 
love  of  God,  the  sincerity  of  the  Church  as  his  messen- 
ger, and  the  truth  of  its  message. 

The  Church,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  must  render  its 
community  service  as  that  service  may  be  needed.  At 
the  same  time  it  must  be  remembered  that  Jesus  did 


198  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

not  come  primarily  to  heal  the  sick  but  to  save  the  sin- 
ner. His  mission  was  not  to  feed  the  body  but  to  feed 
the  soul.  His  feeding  the  hungry  was  incidental  to  his 
endeavor  to  give  them  the  Bread  of  life.  After  he  had 
healed  the  paralytic  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda  he  sought 
the  man  out  to  warn  him,  "Sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse 
thing  befall  thee. " 

The  example  of  the  apostles  must  never  be  forgotten 
by  the  Church.  When  the  work  of  caring  for  temporal 
needs  became  heavy  "the  twelve  called  the  multitude  of 
the  disciples  unto  them,  and  said.  It  is  not  fit  that  we 
should  forsake  the  word  of  God,  and  serve  tables.  Look 
ye  out  therefore,  brethren,  from  among  you  seven  men 
of  good  report,  full  of  the  Spirit  and  of  wisdom,  whom 
we  may  appoint  over  this  business.  But  we  will  con- 
tinue stedfastly  in  prayer,  and  in  the  ministry  of  the 
word." 

A  serious  mistake  is  made  when  the  Church  fails  to 
minister  to  the  temporal  needs  of  men,  for  by  such 
ministry  the  Church  reveals  to  the  world  the  love  of 
God;  but  it  is  a  more  serious  mistake  still  for  the 
Church  to  neglect  its  chief  task  of  prayer  and  the 
ministry  of  the  Word. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Since  Christianity  is  the  life  of  Christ  in  the  lives  of 
men  and  the  Church  is  the  body  which  Christ  has  or- 
ganized for  himself  among  men,  we  should  not  be  sur- 
prised if  in  the  Church  there  should  be  two  special  rites 
or  ceremonies  one  of  which  lays  emphasis  upon  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian's  life  and  the  other  upon  the 
development  of  the  Christian's  life.  The  Church,  in- 
deed, has  two  such  rites  or  ceremonies  which  are  called 
the  sacraments  of  the  Church.  The  first  of  these  is 
baptism,  the  initiatory  rite  which  marks  the  beginning 
of  membership  in  the  Church  and  is  a  symbol  of  new 
life  in  Christ.  The  second  is  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  which  symbolizes  the  sustaining  and 
strengthening  of  the  Christian's  life  through  personal 
relation  to  Christ. 

The  name  ''sacrament"  comes  from  the  Latin  word 
sacramentum,  which  was  the  oath  of  a  soldier  when  he 
enlisted  in  the  Roman  army.  So  a  sacrament  may  be 
considered  as  a  sacred  pledge.  The  Roman  Catholic 
and  the  Greek  Catholic  Churches  call  seven  rites  sacra- 
ments. These  are  baptism ;  confirmation ;  the  Eucharist, 
which  is  another  name  for  the  Lord's  Supper;  ordina- 
tion ;  marriage ;  penance ;  and  unction,  or  the  practice  of 
anointing  the  sick  or  the  dying.  But  the  Protestant 
Church  gives  the  name  ''sacrament"  to  only  two  of 
these  sacred  rites — baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper — 
on  the  ground  that  only  these  two  were  appointed  and 

199 


200  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

commanded  by  Jesus  as  rites  in  the  Church  and  as 
symbols  of  a  spiritual  truth. 

Baptism  with  water  into  the  name  of  Christ,  or  into 
the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  belongs  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  life  and 
is  the  rite  by  which  one  is  initiated  into  membership  in 
the  Church.  The  Jews  were  accustomed  to  ceremonial 
cleansings.  In  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Temple  were 
lavers  containing  water  with  which  the  priests  and 
Levites  washed  their  hands  and  their  feet,  to  remind 
them  of  their  need  of  cleansing  from  sin  before  entering 
upon  the  service  of  God.  Certain  persons  were  forbid- 
den to  enter  the  Tabernacle  or  the  Temple,  ''because 
the  water  for  impurity  was  not  sprinkled"  upon  them. 
Because  there  were  these  washings  and  sprinklings  with 
water  to  signify  cleansing,  the  prophets  used  this  figure 
of  washing  in  exhorting  the  people  to  repentance. 
''Wash  you,  make  you  clean;  put  away  the  evil  of  your 
doings  from  before  mine  eyes;  cease  to  do  evil;  learn  to 
do  well,"  urged  Isaiah. 

In  the  days  of  Jesus  ^  ministry  the  Jews  practiced 
ceremonial  washings  which  were  intended  to  remind 
them  of  the  holiness  of  God  and  of  their  need  of  cleans- 
ing from  sin.  "For  the  Pharisees,  and  all  the  Jews, 
except  they  wash  their  hands  diligently,  eat  not,  hold- 
ing the  tradition  of  the  elders;  and  when  they  come 
from  the  marketplace,  except  they  bathe  themselves, 
they  eat  not;  and  many  other  things  there  are,  which 
they  have  received  to  hold,  washings  of  cups,  and  pots, 
and  brasen  vessels. "  These  ceremonial  cleansings  of  the 
Jews  were  in  the  mind  of  the  author  of  The  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  when  he  wrote,  "Let  us  draw  near  with  a 
true  heart  in  fulness  of  faith,  having  our  hearts  sprinkled 


THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH  201 

from  an  evil  conscience:  and  having  our  body  washed 
with  pure  water." 

This  lesson  of  the  need  of  cleansing  which  was  repre- 
sented in  the  sprinklings  and  washings  with  water  in  the 
Old  Testament  has  been  carried  over  into  Christianity 
in  the  rite  of  baptism.  This  rite  represents  cleansing 
from  sin.  Because  we  are  cleansed  from  the  guilt  of  sin 
by  Christ,  who  "loosed  us  from  our  sins  by  his  blood, " 
the  water  of  baptism  represents  the  cleansing  blood  of 
Christ.  But  because  the  cleansing  which  we  need  is  an 
actual  cleansing  of  the  heart  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  water  of  baptism  represents  especially  the 
Holy  Spirit  who  imparts  to  us  a  new  nature.  So  bap- 
tism is  a  symbol  of  the  new  birth  and  of  the  beginning  of 
a  new  life  of  obedience. 

When  Jesus  commissioned  his  disciples  to  go  and 
make  disciples  of  all  nations,  he  commanded  them  to 
baptize  the  nations  "into  the  name  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  This  command 
was  obeyed  by  the  apostles.  On  the  Day  of  Pentecost, 
when  the  people,  convicted  of  sin,  cried  out,  "What 
shall  we  do?"  Peter  answered,  "Repent  ye,  and  be 
baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
unto  the  remission  of  your  sins. "  "They  then  that  re- 
ceived his  word  were  baptized:  and  there  were  added 
unto  them  in  that  day  about  three  thousand  souls." 
When  Peter  was  sent  to  Csesarea  to  preach  'the  gospel 
to  Cornelius,  the  Roman  centurion,  and  the  centurion 
and  his  Gentile  companions  believed  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  came  upon  them,  Peter  said,  "Can  any  man  for- 
bid the  water,  that  these  should  not  be  baptized,  who 
have  received  the  Holy  Spirit  as  well  as  we?"  "And 
he  commanded  them  to  be  baptized  in  the  name  of 


202  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

Jesus  Christ. "  So  when  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  was  led 
to  beheve  in  Christ,  Phihp  ''baptized  him."  Thus 
baptism  was  the  rite  by  which  these  believers  were  in- 
itiated into  the  Christian  Church. 

The  Christian  Church,  however,  consists  of  professing 
Christians  "together  with  their  children.''  Peter  said 
on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,"  For  to  you  is  the  promise,  and 
to  your  children."  Because  children  of  Christian 
parents  are  members  of  the  visible  Church  they  receive 
this  initiatory  rite  of  the  Church  which  speaks  of  their 
need  of  the  new  birth,  of  the  new  life  which  is  imparted 
by  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  their  parents  promise  to  teach 
and  train  them  as  followers  of  Jesus  and  members  of 
his  Church.  Thus  all  baptized  persons  bear  the  name 
of  Jesus  as  members  of  his  Church. 

Because  baptism  is  the  sacrament  which  initiates  one 
into  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  and  represents  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian  life,  the  sacrament  of  baptism 
is  received  but  once.  But  the  Lord's  Supper,  the 
second  sacrament  of  the  Church,  has  to  do  especially 
with  Christian  growth  through  fellowship  with  Christ; 
and  so  this  second  sacrament  is  received  again  and 
again. 

As  baptism  carried  over  into  the  Christian  Church 
the  Old  Testament  representation  of  cleansing,  so  the 
Lord's  Supper  carries  over  into  the  Christian  Church, 
in  a  different  form,  another  Old  Testament  ceremony, 
the  Jewish  passover. 

On  the  night  in  which  he  was  betrayed,  which  was 
the  night  before  his  death,  Jesus  was  eating  the  pass- 
over  with  his  disciples.  He  was  eager  to  do  something 
which  would  help  them  never  to  forget  that  the  heart 
of  the  gospel  is  the  cross.    He  wished  to  have  his  dis- 


THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH  203 

ciples  remember  his  death  as  the  ''Lamb  of  God"  to 
take  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  The  passover  feast 
took  the  Jews  back  to  the  closing  days  of  their  bondage 
in  Egypt  when  the  death  angel  visited  the  homes  of  the 
Egyptians  and  slew  the  first-born  but  passed  over  the 
homes  of  the  Israelites,  whose  houses  were  sprinkled 
with  the  blood  of  the  lamb  that  had  been  slain.  They 
ate  the  lamb  in  security,  because  its  blood  had  been 
sprinkled  upon  the  doorposts  of  their  houses.  So  as 
Jesus  and  his  disciples  ate  this  memorial  supper  he  took 
bread  from  the  table  and  blessed  it,  and  broke  it,  and 
passed  it  to  them,  saying,  "Take,  eat;  this  is  my  body. " 
When  they  had  eaten  of  the  bread,  he  took  the  cup  and 
said,  "  Drink  ye  all  of  it;  for  this  is  my  blood  of  the  cove- 
nant, which  is  poured  out  for  many  unto  remission  of 
sins."  Thus  he  looked  forward  to  his  crucifixion  in 
order  that  afterwards  his  disciples  should  ever  look 
back  to  his  cross,  for  he  said,  ''This  do  in  remembrance 
of  me. "  And  the  Apostle  Paul,  in  writing  of  the  Lord 's 
Supper,  added,  "  For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread,  and 
drink  the  cup,  ye  proclaim  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come." 
So  this  sacrament,  instituted  and  commanded  by 
Jesus  as  a  memorial  of  his  death,  was  celebrated  by  the 
Church  in  the  days  of  the  apostles.  The  first  converts 
of  the  Day  of  Pentecost  "  continued  stedfastly  in  the 
apostles'  teaching  and  fellowship,  in  the  breaking  of 
bread  and  the  prayers."  "Breaking  bread"  was  the 
phrase  often  used  to  mean  the  celebrating  of  the  Lord 's 
Supper,  because  the  bread  was  blessed  and  broken. 
When  Paul  was  in  Troas  on  his  way  home  at  the  close 
of  his  third  missionary  journey,  "upon  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  when  we  were  gathered  together  to  break 
bread,    Paul   discoursed   with   them."     In   his   First 


204  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  Paul  corrected  the  members 
of  the  Church  in  Corinth  for  certain  errors  in  their  cele- 
bration of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  told  them  how  this 
should  be  observed. 

Ever  since  the  days  of  the  apostles  the  Lord's  Supper 
has  been  one  of  the  chief  ordinances  of  the  Church,  ob- 
served in  obedience  to  the  command  of  Christ.  And  it 
is  in  connection  with  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  that  baptized  members  of  the  Church  are  usu- 
ally welcomed  into  full  membership  in  the  Church, 
when  they  declare  their  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
their  Saviour,  thus  confirming  for  themselves  the 
covenant  made  in  their  behalf  by  their  parents.  It  is  in 
connection  with  this  service  usually  that  those  who 
have  never  been  baptized  are  received  into  membership 
in  the  Church  by  baptism  and  confession  of  faith  in 
Christ.  Those  who  have  been  initiated  into  the  Church 
by  baptism  observe  the  Lord 's  Supper  and  are  thus  re- 
minded that  it  is  by  their  relation  to  Jesus  Christ  that 
their  spiritual  life  is  sustained. 

Every  part  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  its  observance 
has  a  meaning.  The  bread  represents  his  body,  and  re- 
minds us  that  the  Son  of  God  took  upon  himself  a  true 
human  body  that  he  might  as  our  substitute  suffer  for 
our  sins.  The  breaking  of  the  bread  represents  his 
being  wounded  for  our  transgressions  by  the  nails  and 
the  spear.  The  cup  represents  his  blood  which  was  shed 
upon  the  cross,  thus  proclaiming  the  cross  of  Christ  as 
the  central  fact  of  the  Christian  religion.  Because  we 
are  nourished  by  food  and  drink,  the  bread  and  the  cup 
of  the  Lord 's  Supper  remind  us  of  the  great  truth  that 
we  must  feed  upon  Jesus  Christ  spiritually. 

Three  words  of  Jesus  stand  out  in  connection  with 


THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH  205 

his  establishment  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  each  of  which 
has  its  message  for  the  Christian.  The  first  of  these 
significant  words  is  'Hake."  Jesus  said  to  his  disciples 
as  he  offered  them  the  bread,  ''Take  "  So  Jesus  offers 
to  us  himself  and  his  work  as  our  Saviour.  Of  this  great 
fact  we  are  reminded  every  time  the  Lord's  Supper  is 
observed.  We  are  to  take,  or  appropriate,  Christ  and 
what  he  has  done  for  us. 

The  second  word  is  "eat,"  and  the  corresponding 
word,  "  drink. "  The  emblems  of  Jesus '  body  and  blood 
are  not  only  received  by  the  hand  but  are  eaten  and 
drunk,  and  are  thus  assimilated.  They  enter  into  the 
life  of  the  body.  So  Christ,  who  by  the  act  of  faith  is 
taken  as  Saviour,  is  assimilated  spiritually  into  our  very 
life.  So  Paul  could  write:  "For  to  me  to  live  is  Christ." 
"It  is  no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me. " 

A  third  word  stands  out  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  word  "remembrance."  "This  do 
in  remembrance  of  me, "  said  Jesus.  Our  remembrance 
of  what  Christ  has  done  for  us  should  lead  to  apprecia- 
tion. Thus  we  have  the  three  words  which  speak  of 
duty :  "appropriation"  of  what  Christ  has  done  for  us  and 
what  Christ  offers  to  us,  "assimilation"  of  the  life-giving 
and  life-sustaining  grace  which  is  in  Christ,  and  "appre- 
ciation" of  what  Christ  has  done  for  us.  Appropriation 
brings  Christ 's  life  to  us,  assimilation  brings  the  devel- 
opment of  that  life  which  faith  has  brought,  and  appre- 
ciation will  lead  to  the  use  of  our  Christ-given  strength 
in  his  service.  "Till  he  come"  we  are  to  give  ourselves 
to  his  service  and  to  his  cause. 

As  from  baptism  one  is  to  go  forth  with  the  purpose 
of  obedience,  so  from  the  Lord's  Supper  one  is  to  go 
forth  with  new  strength  and  with  new  zeal  for  service, 


206  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

We  feed  upon  Christ  spiritually,  not  for  our  own  selfish 
enjoyment  but  to  find  strength  for  service.  Spiritually 
we  do  not  eat  merely  to  live,  but  we  eat  to  find  strength 
for  work. 

From  the  first  Lord's  Supper  Jesus  went  out  to  do 
the  Father's  will.  From  each  Lord's  Supper  which  we 
observe  we  are  to  go  forth  with  a  quickened  purpose  to 
do  God's  will. 

From  the  memorial  of  Calvary  the  Christian  may 
well  go  out  into  the  world  with  the  words  of  the  hymn 
by  Rev.  John  E.  Bode  in  his  heart  and  upon  his  lips: 

0  Jesus,  I  have  promised 
To  serve  thee  to  the  end; 

Be  thou  for  ever  near  me, 
My  Master  and  my  Friend: 

1  shall  not  fear  the  battle 

If  thou  art  by  my  side, 
Nor  wander  from  the  pathway 
If  thou  wilt  be  my  Guide. 

0  let  me  feel  thee  near  me. 
The  world  is  ever  near; 

1  see  the  sights  that  dazzle, 
The  tempting  sounds  I  hear: 

My  foes  are  ever  near  me, 

Aroimd  me  and  within; 
But,  Jesus,  draw  thou  nearer. 

And  shield  my  soul  from  sin. 

O  let  me  hear  thee  speaking 

In  accents  clear  and  still. 
Above  the  storms  of  passion. 

The  murmurs  of  self-will : 
O  speak  to  reassure  me. 

To  hasten  or  control; 
O  speak,  and  make  me  listen, 

Thou  Guardian  of  my  soul. 


THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH  207 

O  Jesus,  thou  hast  promised 

To  all  who  follow  thee 
That  where  thou  art  in  glory 

There  shall  thy  servant  be; 
And,  Jesus,  I  have  promised 

To  serve  thee  to  the  end; 
O  give  me  grace  to  follow 

My  Master  and  my  Friend. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  HEROISM  OF  THE  CHURCH 

The  Church,  as  the  body  of  Christ,  bears  'Hhe  marks 
of  Jesus/'  The  institution  of  Christ  which  he  left  in 
the  world  to  carry  out  his  great  purpose,  to  which  he 
gave  his  life,  must  share  in  his  unselfish  devotion  to 
duty  and  his  heroic  self-sacrifice.  As  Christ  "stedfastly 
set  his  face  to  go  to  Jerusalem, "  where  the  cross  awaited 
him,  the  Church  is  called  upon  to  face  hardship  and 
trial  and  to  press  on  unwaveringly  in  the  path  of  service. 
As  the  gospel  was  first  given  to  the  world  because  Christ 
dared  to  die,  so  the  gospel  is  kept  in  the  world  because 
his  Church  has  the  courage  to  dare  to  die  for  the  truth 
which  Christ  left  in  its  charge. 

The  words  of  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  concerning 
the  Old  Testament  heroes  of  the  faith  apply  also  to  the 
heroes  of  the  Christian  era:  ''Who  through  faith  sub- 
dued kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained  prom- 
ises, stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  power  of 
fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  from  weakness  were 
made  strong,  waxed  mighty  in  war,  turned  to  flight 
armies  of  aliens.  Women  received  their  dead  by  a  resur- 
rection: and  others  were  tortured,  not  accepting  their 
deliverance;  that  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrec- 
tion :  and  others  had  trial  of  mockings  and  scourgings, 
yea,  moreover,  of  bonds  and  imprisonment:  they  were 
stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  they  were  tempted, 
they  were  slain  with  the  sword :  they  went  about  in  sheep- 
skins, in  goatskins;  being  destitute,  afflicted,  ill-treated 

208 


THE  HEROISM  OF  THE  CHURCH  209 

(of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy),  wandering  in 
deserts  and  mountains  and  caves,  and  holes,  of  the 
earth." 

The  Christian  Church  began  its  work  heroically. 
On  the  Day  of  Pentecost  the  disciples  of  Jesus  mockingly 
called  drunken  men  and  scorned  as  believers  in  a  teacher 
who  had  been  executed  as  a  criminal,  dared  to  proclaim 
to  those  who  had  put  Jesus  to  death  that  they  had  cruci- 
fied the  Lord  of  glory,  and  to  call  them  to  repentance 
and  faith  in  this  same  Jesus  as  the  Christ  and  Saviour. 
The  thrill  of  victory  when  three  thousand  converts  were 
won  in  a  day  and  soon  grew  to  five  thousand  did  not 
make  heroism  unnecessary.  The  apostles  were  sum- 
moned before  the  authorities  and  commanded  not  to 
teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  But  the  apostles  answered, 
"Whether  it  is  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto 
you  rather  than  unto  God,  judge  ye :  for  we  cannot  but 
speak  the  things  which  we  saw  and  heard.  .  .  .  We 
must  obey  God  rather  than  men. " 

Stephen's  loyalty  stood  the  test  of  martyrdom. 
Then  followed  such  bitter  persecution  that  the  Christian 
disciples  of  Jerusalem  had  to  flee  for  their  lives.  But 
the  persecution  which  they  had  experienced  in  Jerusalem 
did  not  silence  them,  for  "they  .  .  .  that  were 
scattered  abroad  went  about  preaching  the  word." 
Then  the  apostle  James  was  beheaded  by  Herod.  Yet 
the  Church  went  on  with  her  work  of  proclaiming  and 
living  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

The  spirit  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  face  of  per- 
secution is  seen  in  the  heroism  of  Paul  who  was  "ready 
not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem  for 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  and  who  in  the  face  of 
death  declared:  "I  am  already  being  offered,  and  the 
14 


210  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

time  of  my  departure  is  come.  I  have  fought  the  good 
fight,  I  have  finished  the  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith : 
henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of  righteous- 
ness, which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  to 
me  at  that  day;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  also  to  all  them 
that  have  loved  his  appearing. '' 

To  John,  who  was  exiled  to  the  island  of  Patmos 
"for  the  word  of  God  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus, "  the 
Lord  himself  gave  to  the  seven  churches  the  challenge 
to  him  "that  overcometh." 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  Church  is  always  en- 
gaged in  strife  and  is  always  facing  peril,  any  more  than 
Jesus  himself  was  always  engaged  in  strife  and  was  al- 
ways facing  peril.  He  had  his  times  of  retirement  with 
his  disciples.  He  had  his  seasons  of  rest  in  the  quiet 
home  at  Bethany.  So  the  Church  has  its  rest  even  in 
the  midst  of  struggle.  But  the  fact  remains  that  the 
Church  is  an  institution  whose  very  life  depends  upon 
its  spirit  of  heroism.  When  the  truth  is  threatened,  the 
Church  must  stand  unwaveringly  for  the  truth  at  any 
cost. 

The  spirit  of  the  Church  is  the  spirit  of  Polycarp, 
bishop  of  Smyrna  in  the  second  century,  who,  when  he 
was  commanded  to  renounce  his  faith  in  Christ,  replied, 
"Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  him,  and  he  never 
did  me  an  injury;  how  then  can  I  blaspheme  my  King 
and  my  Saviour?  "  As  he  stood  in  the  arena,  surrounded 
by  an  eager  multitude,  he  was  again  urged  to  renounce 
Christ,  but  he  answered,  "Hear  me  declare  with  all 
boldness,  I  am  a  Christian."  And  when  the  Roman 
proconsul  threatened,  "I  have  wild  beasts  at  hand;  to 
these  will  I  cast  thee,  except  thou  repent,"  Polycarp 
replied,  "Call  them,  then,  for  we  are  not  accustomed  to 


THE  HEROISM  OF  THE  CHURCH  211 

repent  of  what  is  good  in  order  to  adopt  that  which  is 
evil."  When  the  proconsul  urged,  ''I  will  cause  thee 
to  be  consumed  by  fire,  seeing  thou  despisest  the  wild 
beasts,  if  thou  will  not  repent, "  the  answer  came,  "  Thou 
threatenest  me  with  fire  which  burneth  for  an  hour  and 
after  a  little  is  extinguished,  but  art  ignorant  of  the  fire 
of  consuming  judgment  and  of  eternal  punishment,  re- 
served for  the  ungodly.  Why  tarriest  thou?  Bring 
forth  what  thou  wilt."  And  as  the  fires  were  kindled 
about  him  he  prayed,  "I  give  thee  thanks  that  thou 
hast  counted  me  worthy  of  this  day  and  this  hour,  that 
I  should  have  a  part  in  the  number  of  thy  martyrs,  in 
the  cup  of  Christ,  to  the  resurrection  of  eternal  life." 
The  heroism  of  the  Church  is  not  only  the  heroism 
that  endures  persecution ;  it  is  the  heroism  that  conquers 
sin.  The  time  came  when  Christianity  was  no  longer 
under  the  ban  of  Rome.  In  the  fourth  century  the  Em- 
peror Constantine  became  a  Christian  and  the  Church 
was  held  in  honor.  But  the  struggle  for  the  truth  had  to 
go  on,  now  against  the  subtle  and  insidious  influences  of 
worldliness  and  sin  instead  of  against  persecution  and 
death.  Augustine  of  Africa  now  represents  the  heroic 
spirit  of  the  Church.  In  him  we  see  the  conflict  of 
Christianity  with  heathenism  and  false  teaching  and 
with  the  sins  of  the  flesh  that  would  strangle  the  soul. 
In  Augustine's  heart  was  a  heroism  as  great  as  that  of 
the  martyrs.  Would  he  give  up  his  sins?  Could  he 
give  up  his  sins?  In  his  struggle  with  the  evils  that  had 
gripped  him  body  and  soul  he  cried  out:  "How  long, 
how  long?  To-morrow  and  to-morrow?  Why  not  this 
hour  make  an  end  of  my  vileness?"  Then  in  response 
to  the  word  of  Scripture,  "Put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  make  not  provision  for  the  flesh,  to  fulfil  the 


212  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

lusts  thereof,"  he  began   his   new  Hfe  of   loyalty  to 
Christ. 

The  Church  has  had  to  stand  against  the  might  of 
men.  Typical  of  this  kind  of  courage  is  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux,  small  of  stature  and  frail,  who,  in  the  days 
of  the  Crusades  dared  to  face  the  gigantic  and  brutal 
Duke  of  Aquitaine  and  denounce  the  duke's  mockery 
of  the  claims  of  Christ. 

For  the  great  principle  of  the  authority  of  the  Scrip- 
tures the  Church  has  had  to  contend  heroically.  Wy- 
clif,  the  champion  of  English  liberty  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  exemplifies  this  courage.  In  his  book,  ^'The 
Truth  and  Meaning  of  Scripture, "  he  declared  that  we 
are  to  find  out  what  is  true  from  the  Bible  and  not  from 
the  pope,  and  that  everyone  has  the  right  to  think  for 
himself  and  to  decide  for  himself  what  the  Bible  means. 
He  had  the  courage  to  translate  the  Bible  into  English, 
the  language  of  the  common  people,  and  to  send  out 
what  he  called  his  ''poor  priests"  to  proclaim  without 
temporal  reward  the  simple  Word  of  God  wherever 
men  would  listen.  Until  his  death  he  stood  heroically 
for  the  truth  as  he  saw  it,  but  his  body,  reverently 
buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Lutterworth,  where  he  had 
preached,  was  not  allowed  to  lie  in  peace.  Thirty  years 
later  he  was  condemned  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Council 
of  Constance  and  the  pope  directed  that  his  bones 
should  be  dug  up  and  burned  to  ashes.  This  was  done 
in  1428  and  the  ashes  cast  into  the  river  Swift.  As  Fuller 
wrote:  "This  brook  did  convey  his  ashes  to  the  Avon, 
Avon  into  Severn,  Severn  into  the  narrow  sea,  and  this 
into  the  wide  ocean.  And  so  the  ashes  of  Wyclif  are  the 
emblem  of  his  doctrine,  which  is  now  dispersed  all  over 
the  world. " 


THE  HEROISM  OF  THE  CHURCH  213 

The  heroism  of  the  Church  is  the  heroism  of  loyalty 
to  conscience.  John  Huss,  the  Bohemian  preacher,  who 
read  Wyclif 's  writings,  was  persecuted  first  because  he 
dared  to  denounce  the  immorality  of  the  clergy  of  his 
day,  but  was  finally  condemned  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  on  the  ground  that  his  teaching  was  heretical. 
When  condemned  he  appealed  from  the  decision  of  the 
pope  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  true  head  of  the  Church. 
When  urged  to  confess  his  "errors, "  as  his  teaching  was 
called  by  the  Roman  Catholic  authorities,  he  replied, 
''I  do  not  wish  to  maintain  any  errors,  but  will  humbly 
submit  to  the  decrees  of  the  council;  but  I  cannot,  with- 
out offending  God  and  my  conscience,  say  that  I  held 
erroneous  opinions  which  I  never  held,  and  which  I 
never  had  at  heart."  When,  for  conscience'  sake,  he 
was  led  to  the  stake  to  be  burned  to  death,  he  prayed, 
"Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  will  bear  patiently  and  humbly 
this  horrible,  shameful,  and  cruel  death  for  the  sake  of 
the  gospel  and  the  preaching  of  thy  Word."  So  the 
Christian  puts  conscience  above  life. 

Before  the  Reformation  loyal  disciples  of  Jesus,  rep- 
resentatives of  the  true  Church  within  the  external 
organization  which  was  known  as  the  Church,  stood  for 
truth  and  conscience;  but  when  the  sixteenth  century 
came,  this  loyalty  to  Christ  and  his  gospel  organized  it- 
self into  the  Church  of  the  Reformation  which  withdrew 
from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  after  vain  endeavors 
to  reform  the  Roman  Church  itself.  Because  we  live 
in  a  day  of  religious  liberty  we  can  scarcely  appreciate 
the  heroism  of  the  men  of  faith  who  dared  to  withstand 
the  authority  of  the  pope.  The  papacy  through  the 
years  had  gradually  assumed  such  power  that  the  pope 
was  the  supreme  ruler  of  the  nations  and  by  his  bans 


214  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

could  bring  to  submission  not  only  those  within  the 
Church  but  temporal  rulers  as  well. 

In  Germany,  Martin  Luther  dared  to  post  his 
'^Ninety-five  Theses"  which  led  to  an  open  break  with 
the  papacy.  The  pope's  bull  of  excommunication  he 
burned.  When  brought  to  trial  and  commanded  to  re- 
tract his  teaching,  he  answered:  "Unless  I  am  convinced 
by  the  Scripture  and  by  right  reason  (for  I  trust  neither 
in  popes  nor  councils,  since  they  have  often  erred  and 
contradicted  themselves) — unless  I  am  convinced,  I  am 
bound  by  the  texts  of  the  Bible,  my  conscience  is  captive 
to  the  Word  of  God.  I  neither  can  nor  will  recant 
anything,  since  it  is  neither  right  nor  safe  to  act  against 
conscience.  Here  I  stand,  I  cannot  do  otherwise:  God 
help  me.    Amen. " 

In  Switzerland  the  Reformed  Church  was  being 
nurtured  by  Zwingli,  the  brave  preacher  of  Glarus, 
Einsiedeln,  and  Zurich,  who  dared  to  preach  the  Word 
of  God  and  to  expose  the  false  teaching  of  the  Roman 
Church  and  to  wait  patiently  for  the  fruits  from  the 
seed  of  truth  which  he  thus  sowed.  So  the  true  faith  was 
restored  in  Zurich.  Characteristic  of  him  were  his  words 
to  his  companions  just  before  entering  the  one-sided 
conflict  with  the  overwhelming  forces  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  cantons  :  "Brave  fellows  take  heart  and  fear 
nothing.  We  suffer,  if  we  must,  in  a  good  cause.  Com- 
mend yourselves  to  God,  who  is  able  to  care  for  us  and 
ours.  God 's  will  be  done. "  Where  he  fell  in  battle  is  a 
stone  bearing  the  words,  "You  can  kill  the  body,  but 
you  cannot  kill  the  soul." 

The  Protestant  Church  owes  one  of  its  greatest  debts 
to  John  Calvin,  the  frail  and  timid  Frenchman  who 
sought  retirement  and  study  but  who  was  challenged 


THE  HEROISM  OF  THE  CHURCH  215 

by  the  vehement  Farrel  to  throw  himseh^  into  the 
struggle  between  Protestantism  and  Romanism  in 
Geneva.  "I  am  timorous  and  shy  by  nature,"  Calvin 
protested;  ^^how,  then,  shall  I  be  able  to  fight  against 
those  raging  waves!"  But  because  he  was  led  to  be- 
lieve that  this  was  the  call  of  God  he  went  to  Geneva, 
where  he  taught  and  preached  and  organized  the 
Protestant  forces  of  the  city.  This  timid  man  showed 
marvelous  courage,  the  courage  which  conscience  and 
the  fear  of  God  give.  When  opponents  of  the  reformers 
in  Geneva  were  fomenting  trouble,  and  resentment 
against  Calvin  was  at  its  height,  he  went  into  the  town 
hall  in  spite  of  the  drawn  daggers  that  threatened  him. 
''If  you  desire  my  blood — here  it  is!"  he  said.  ''If 
you  want  to  banish  me,  I  will  go.  And  you  may  try 
once  more  to  save  the  town  without  the  gospel." 
On  another  trying  occasion  he  announced:  "As  long  as 
God  permits  me  to  stay  here,  I  shall  show  the  constancy 
he  has  granted  me,  whatever  may  happen.  And  I  shall 
follow  the  line  of  conduct  which  my  Master  has  made 
perfectly  clear  to  me." 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  owed  its  life  to 
men  like  John  Knox,  "who  never  feared  the  face  of  man," 
and  "whose  voice  could  put  more  life  into  his  followers 
than  six  hundred  trumpets  blowing  incessantly."  Yet 
when  he  was  called  to  the  ministry  such  was  his  diffi- 
dence that  he  said,  "Who  am  I,  that  I  should  under- 
take this  great  work?" 

The  revival  of  the  true  faith  in  England  in  the  dark 
days  of  unbelief  and  terrible  immorality  was  due  to  men 
like  John  Wesley,  the  founder  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
whose  courage  and  self-control  when  a  mob  tried  to  kill 
him  won  recruits  for  his  cause.     And  the  Church  has 


216  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

been  spread  by  such  men  as  Wesley,  who  during  his 
ministry  of  fifty  years  traveled  250,000  miles.  He  rose 
at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  frequently  preached 
at  five.  Often  he  spent  twenty-four  hours  in  the  saddle 
and  traveled  ninety  miles  in  a  single  day.  He  would 
press  on  though  crusted  with  ice  from  head  to  foot,  and 
when  the  road  was  covered  with  water  he  drove  through 
the  surf.  He  delivered  forty-two  thousand  sermons — 
an  average  of  fifteen  a  week. 

The  Church  came  to  America  through  the  heroism 
of  men  and  women  like  the  brave  Pilgrims,  the  fugitive 
Huguenots  of  France,  and  the  Presbyterians  from 
Wales  and  Ireland  and  Scotland.  We  have  a  free 
Church  in  a  free  State  because  there  were  men  like 
Francis  Makemie  who,  when  forbidden  to  preach  in 
New  York  in  the  days  of  the  Colonies,  replied  to  the 
governor  in  the  spirit  of  the  apostles,  "If  Your  Lordship 
requires  it,  we  will  give  security  for  our  behaviour;  but 
to  give  bond  and  security  to  preach  no  more  in  Your 
Excellency 's  government,  if  invited  and  desired  by  any 
people,  we  neither  can  nor  dare  do. " 

The  Church  has  gone  to  heathen  lands  because  men 
dared  to  face  discouragement  and  ridicule  and  difficulty 
and  persecution  in  the  spirit  of  Robert  Morrison  who, 
when  the  merchants  on  whose  ship  he  sought  passage 
to  China  scoffingly  remarked,  "And  so  you  really  ex- 
pect to  make  an  impression  on  the  idolatry  of  the 
great  Chinese  Empire?"  replied,  "No,  sir,  I  expect  God 
to  do  so. "  So  has  Christianity  ever  been  kept  alive 
in  the  world  by  men  and  women  of  every  walk  and 
station  of  life  who  had  the  courage  to  stand  for  truth 
and  right,  to  live  truth  and  right,  and  to  proclaim  truth 
and  right  in  spite  of  ridicule,  hardship,  persecution, 


THE  HEROISM  OF  THE  CHURCH  217 

and   discouragement,  ''of  whom   the   world  was   not 
worthy. " 

"The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 

A  kingly  crown  to  gain; 
His  blood-red  banner  streams  afar; 

Who  follows  in  his  train? 
Who  best  can  drink  his  cup  of  woe, 

Triumphant  over  pain, 
W^ho  patient  bears  his  cross  below, 

He  follows  in  his  train, 

"  The  martyr  first,  whose  eagle  eye 

Could  pierce  beyond  the  grave. 
Who  saw  the  Master  in  the  sky, 

And  called  on  him  to  save; 
Like  him,  with  pardon  on  his  tongue 

In  midst  of  mortal  pain. 
He  prayed  for  them  that  did  the  wrong; 

Who  follows  in  his  train? 

"A  glorious  band,  the  chosen  few 

On  whom  the  Spirit  came. 
Twelve  valiant  saints,  their  hope  they  knew. 

And  mocked  the  cross  and  flame; 
They  met  the  t>Tant's  brandished  steel. 

The  lion's  gory  mane; 
They  bowed  their  necks  the  death  to  feel; 

Who  follows  in  their  train? 

"A  noble  army,  men  and  boys. 

The  matron  and  the  maid. 
Around  the  Saviour's  throne  rejoice. 

In  robes  of  light  arrayed : 
They  climbed  the  steep  ascent  of  heaven 

Through  peril,  toil,  and  pain: 
O  God,  to  us  may  grace  be  given 

To  follow  in  their  train." 


CHAPTER  VIII 
SHOULD  ONE  JOIN  THE  CHURCH? 

Every  sincere  and  thoughtful  person  who  is  interested 
in  truth  and  morahty  must  face  the  question  of  his  duty 
to  the  Church.  There  are  good  people  out  of  the  Church 
as  well  as  in  it,  but  the  moral  ideals  of  these  good  people 
out  of  the  Church  they  owe  to  the  Church.  A  conscien- 
tious physician,  who  was  not  at  the  time  a  member  of 
the  Church,  was  asked  where  he  got  his  high  moral  ideals. 
He  replied,  "In  the  Sunday  school."  But  the  Sunday 
school  is  one  of  the  teaching  agencies  of  the  Church. 

Salvation  depends  upon  a  personal  relation  to  Jesus 
Christ.  Joining  the  Church  does  not  save  us,  for  we  are 
saved  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  our  personal  Saviour. 
So  we  do  not  join  the  Church  in  order  to  be  saved.  But 
faith  in  Christ  unto  salvation  has  been  made  possible 
for  us  by  the  Church;  the  message  of  the  gospel  has 
come  to  us  through  the  Church. 

The  thoughtful  person,  therefore,  who  considers  the 
importance  of  moral  ideals,  or  who  has  for  his  own 
salvation  accepted  Jesus  Christ  as  Saviour,  must  face 
the  question,  ''What  should  be  my  attitude  toward  the 
Church  of  Christ?" 

No  thoughtful  student  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ 
can  evade  the  fact  that  Jesus  insisted  upon  an  open 
confession  of  faith  in  him.  He  gave  no  encouragement 
to  secret  disci pleship.  In  connection  with  the  account 
of  th<^  pojoveiaition  with  Nicodemus  by  night  we  find 

218 


SHOULD  ONE  JOIN  THE  CHURCH?  219 

in  the  Gospel  by  John  these  significant  words:  ''He 
that  doeth  the  truth  cometh  to  the  Hght,  that  his  works 
may  be  made  manifest,  that  they  have  been  wrought 
in  God. "  Jesus  said  to  his  disciples:  ' Every  one  there- 
fore who  shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also 
confess  before  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  But  whoso- 
ever shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  be- 
fore my  Father  who  is  in  heaven."  The  Apostle  Paul 
wrote,  "For  with  the  heart  man  belie  veth  unto  righteous- 
ness; and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto 
salvation." 

There  must  be,  therefore,  an  open  confession  of  faith 
in  Christ  on  the  part  of  believers  in  Christ.  The  frank 
way — not  to  say  the  appointed  way — to  confess  Christ 
is  to  ally  oneself  with  the  institution  in  the  world  which 
is  known  as  his  institution.  The  world  knows  the 
Church  as  the  institution  of  disciples  of  Christ.  The 
simplest  way,  then,  to  put  oneself  on  record  as  a  follower 
of  Jesus  is  to  join  the  Church. 

There  is  a  second  great  reason  why  everyone  who 
would  honor  truth  and  stand  for  right  should  ally  him- 
self with  the  Church.  The  Church  has  maintained  it- 
self in  the  world  only  by  the  greatest  heroism.  We 
have  our  Christian  privileges  and  blessings  only  because 
in  every  generation  there  were  those  who  were  ready  to 
do  and  to  die  in  order  that  this  heritage  might  not  be 
lost.  If  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
Church,  and  through  the  Church  we  have  received  our 
Christian  privileges  and  blessings,  how  can  anyone  with 
a  spark  of  gratitude  and  appreciation  fail  to  do  his  part 
to  preserve  this  institution  and  to  pass  it  on  unim- 
paired to  the  next  generation?  What  would  we  think 
of  the  man  who  having  drunk  when  thirsty  from  the 


220  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

spring  and  quenched  his  thirst,  would  give  no  thought 
to  the  next  pilgrim  to  pass  that  way?  What  would  we 
think  of  the  citizen  who  would  enjoy  the  blessings 
which  his  fathers  have  purchased  for  him  by  their 
patriotism  and  self-sacrifice,  and  yet  ignore  his  obliga- 
tion to  preserve  and  to  pass  on  this  heritage  to  the  next 
generation?  Similar  to  this  is  the  conduct  of  the  person 
who  thinks  of  enjoying  the  fruits  of  the  Church's 
heroism  in  the  days  that  are  gone  but  who  keeps  on  the 
outside  of  the  Church  himself  and  relieves  himself  of  all 
obligation  to  maintain  this  great  institution.  What  the 
Church  has  bought  at  so  great  a  price  must  not  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  free  gift,  with  no  obligation  on  the  part  of 
the  recipient.  How  can  we  maintain  our  self-respect 
and  at  the  same  time  accept  a  gospel  which  cost  Jesus 
more  than  his  life  and  which  has  been  passed  on  to  us 
at  the  price  of  heroic  sacrifice,  if  we  feel  no  sense  of  ob- 
ligation to  those  who  paid  this  great  price?  We  must 
join  the  Church  to  pay  our  debt  of  gratitude  to  those 
who  went  before  us,  and  to  pay  our  debt  of  obligation 
to  those  who  shall  come  after  us. 

There  is  a  third  reason  why  all  those  who  believe  in 
Jesus  as  Saviour  must  recognize  their  obligation  to  his 
Church.  The  Church  is  the  army  of  Christ.  When  one 
joins  the  Church  he  is  enlisting  in  the  army  of  Christ  for 
service.  There  is  no  room  to  doubt  the  fact  that  every 
believer  in  Jesus  is  obligated  to  pass  on  to  others  the 
truth  he  believes.  Every  disciple  is  to  become  a  witness. 
The  institution  which  has  carried  on  the  campaign  of 
Christ  in  the  world  is  the  Church.  If  the  world  is  to  be 
won  to  Christ  it  must  be  reached  by  a  campaign  of 
evangelization  which  is  organized  and  systematic. 
When  Jesus  undertook  to  feed  the  five  thousand  he 


SHOULD  ONE  JOIN  THE  CHURCH?     221 

divided  the  multitude  into  companies  of  fifty  and  a 
hundred,  and  his  disciples  distributed  to  them  the  bread 
and  the  fish  in  an  orderly  way.  The  campaign  to  give 
the  Bread  of  life  to  the  world  must  be  similarly  organ- 
ized. Everyone  who  believes  in  Jesus  must  ally  him- 
self with  this  organized  army  of  Christ  and  do  his  share 
in  personal  service  and  by  the  dedication  of  his  re- 
sources for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  Christ. 
For  anyone  professing  to  love  Christ  to  remain  out  of 
the  Church,  is  as  reasonable  as  for  the  one  who  pro- 
fesses to  be  a  patriot  to  refuse  to  vote,  to  pay  taxes,  or 
to  render  service  to  his  government  when  the  nation's 
life  is  at  stake. 

Christ  is  at  war  with  evil;  the  Saviour  of  the  souls  of 
men  is  in  conflict  with  sin,  with  the  power  of  death; 
the  gospel  is  grappling  with  error  and  unbelief.  Every 
believer  in  Jesus  must  ''put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God, 
.  .  .  For  our  wrestling  is  not  against  flesh  and  blood, 
but  against  the  principalities,  against  the  powers, 
against  the  world-rulers  of  this  darkness,  against  the 
spiritual  hosts  of  wickedness  in  the  heavenly  places. 
Wherefore  take  up  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye 
may  be  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and,  having 
done  all,  to  stand.  Stand  therefore,  having  girded  your 
loins  with  truth,  and  having  put  on  the  breastplate  of 
righteousness,  and  having  shod  your  feet  with  the  pre- 
paration of  the  gospel  of  peace ;  withal  taking  the  shield 
of  faith,  wherewith  ye  shall  be  able  to  quench  all  the 
fiery  darts  of  the  evil  one.  And  take  the  helmet  of  sal- 
vation, and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
of  God :  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  praying  at  all 
seasons  in  the  Spirit,  and  watching  thereunto  in  all 
perseverance  and  supplication  for  all  the  saints. "    We 


222  OUR  REASONABLE  FAITH 

must  take  our  places  and  endure  hardness,  if  need  be, 
as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Like  a  mighty  army 

Moves  the  Church  of  God; 
Brothers,  we  are  treading 

Where  the  saints  have  trod; 
We  are  not  divided, 

All  one  body  we, 
One  in  hope  and  doctrine. 

One  in  charity. 

"Crowns  and  thrones  may  perish, 

Kingdoms  rise  and  wane. 
But  the  Church  of  Jesus 

Constant  will  remain; 
Gates  of  hell  can  never 

'Gainst  the  Church  prevail; 
We  have  Christ's  own  promise, 

And  that  cannot  fail. 

"Onward,  then,  ye  people, 

Join  our  happy  throng, 
Blend  with  ours  your  voices 

In  the  triumph-song; 
Glory,  laud,  and  honor 

Unto  Christ  the  King; 
This  through  countless  ages 

Men  and  angels  sing. 

"Onward,  Christian  soldiers, 
Marching  as  to  war, 
With  the  cross  of  Jesus 
Going  on  before." 


Date  Due 

F  X    ^ 

fEBl  Q 

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w# 

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3739 


1    -t*-*. 


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